Straight Up yoghurt
This post has potential for being a bit weird and disjointed but please bear with me. I have recently completed my stint as a good, consciencous citizen in serving as a jury member on two recent cases.
In the UK the Coroner investigates the cause of deaths and in cases where the deceased person was detained by the State, an Inquest takes place and a Jury diligently enquires into the circumstances surrounding the death. This provides a degree of openness and public scrutiny, therefore ensuring nobody is “bumped off” or “done away with”.
HM Coroner’s Court
Jury service is pretty much compulsory if you are selected at random and it’s based on the electoral role. Normally you can expect to be called only once and I think it is less common to be a jury member in a Coroner’s Court; normally it would be a criminal case being tried in a Crown Court. For myself it was interesting to do my jury service in the Coroner’s Court as this was new ground for me; professionally I used to spend much time in the Magistrates Court, until the late 1990s. Perhaps when I retire I will write my memoirs and some of those Court room dramas will feature heavily as I still remember them to this day.
Anyway, the situation is that you can claim a lunch allowance of a heady £5.71 and there happened to be a nearby branch of Waitrose to blow it in. Each day I made sure I had something completely different and on one particular day my lunch included a small tub of Straight Up yoghurt for my pudding.
The taste
Without doubt, this is one heck of a yoghurt. First impressions are sort of smooth, with a thick creamy texture. The taste is anything but creamy – it is sharp, sour, tart and almost tangy – certainly ‘old school’. Yes I do agree with their assertion that this is ‘old school’ and it reminds me of who yoghurt used to taste like.
In fact I remember my first taste of yoghurt, as a child in the 1960s and it was an ‘acquired taste’ which is a polite way of saying it wasn’t nice and took a long time before it was anywhere near acceptable and anywhere near being enjoyable.
What’s in it?
Live Yoghurt* (Milk), Gelling Agent (Pectin), *Contains Cultures: S. Thermophilus, L. Acidophilus, Bifidobacterium, L. Bulgaricus, L. Casei
I’m afraid I don’t know all the ins and outs of these bugs other than they are helpful in aiding our digestive tract to keep it all in good order. Eating this yoghurt also brings a good dose of protein, some carbohydrates and calcium.
Conclusion
Trying out new foods can be fun, especially when they are free! Unexpectedly this yoghurt really did bring back memories of how I remember yoghurt from several decades ago and also from when I had a go at making yoghurt myself in a Thermos flask.
Would I buy it again? Maybe, now and again. I prefer a more mild taste in the case of yoghurt although it has to be said you can use this sparingly and economically.
One last word on jury service: please don’t ever be one of those people who moan like hell at the thought of doing jury service. Yes it can be inconvenient and it can be challenging or distressing. However it is all about local justice and being a member of your society. Living in a country where justice is relatively open is a really important thing which we shouldn’t ever take for granted. There, I’ve said my piece.
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