The consumer appeal of cultured dairy products is strong given the number of products and product diversity available today. The cultured dairy products market is expected to grow from 40.4 billion dollars in 2023 to 65.7 billion dollars by 2032 (Global Market Insights, July 2024).

Driven by the wholesome, healthy, and clean-label attributes that cultured dairy products are characterized by, it’s not surprising that there are many food products that feature yogurt, cream cheese, sour cream, and more as ingredients. Even home recipes often call for yogurt in a muffin or salad dressing, sour cream in a pound cake or the sauce for beef stroganoff, and cream cheese in mashed potatoes.  

Each of these cultured products brings unique flavor, function, and nutrition to the final product. A review of the product landscape for food and beverage product introductions over the past two years, containing cultured products as an ingredient, shows about 9,000 new products worldwide (Innova Market Insights, 2024). Some of these products utilize the cultured product in its natural state but many use a dried form.  

Yogurt, kefir, and quark 

Out of the 9,000 new product launches, about a third of them list yogurt, about 50 of them have kefir, and 20 have quark as an ingredient. As a review, kefir originates from Russia and Central Asia and has a tart flavor and an effervescent texture. There isn’t a standard of identity for kefir in the U.S., but kefir is a fermented milk drink that is characterized by the addition of kefir grains, a mesophilic culture, and usually has added probiotics. 

Quark is a strained cheese fermented with mesophilic cultures that originates from Germany and eastern Europe. It has a high protein content similar to skyr or Greek yogurt.

Frozen yogurt immediately comes to mind when thinking about using yogurt in a traditional application. Most of us have heard of tzatziki sauce, which is a condiment for many Mediterranean dishes using plain yogurt or Greek yogurt as the base ingredient. Other traditional products containing yogurt include bars, pretzels, or fruit chews with a yogurt coating. 

Yogurt coatings use yogurt powder because they are fat-based coatings that don’t contain any moisture. Yogurt powders don’t have a standard of identity, but they are typically fermented milk with lactic acid bacteria that has been dried with a pH less than 5. They have a mild, tart dairy flavor, like you would expect dried yogurt to have, and of course, a much longer shelf life than fresh yogurt.  

Greek yogurt powder is fortified with milk protein, so it has a higher protein content than a typical yogurt powder. Another form of yogurt that has been more common as a toddler snack is freeze-dried yogurt. Freeze-drying yogurt is done starting with fresh yogurt that often gets deposited in small drops (think large chocolate chips) just prior to freeze-drying. The finished yogurt drop has a crunchy texture and tart flavor that makes it a great snack by itself or combined as part of a snack or cereal mix.  

Just imagine if mini marshmallows were replaced by freeze-dried yogurt pieces in a cereal for kids. Nutritionally, both yogurt powder and freeze-dried yogurt pieces bring all the benefits of fresh yogurt.

Some of the more unique products with yogurt often come from other countries. It would be fun to try a seasoned mayonnaise from South Africa, a Greek yogurt plum cake from Germany, a Tikka Masala from the UK or Butter Chicken and rice from Austria. Most of these products use yogurt powder because of the long shelf life and clean label appeal. 

Creative products with kefir include potato salad from Norway, a double berry Mooncake from China, a whole grain biscuit from Latvia, or a freeze-dried dog treat from the U.S.

Some examples of new products containing quark are banana pastries from Finland, a cauliflower mac and cheese from the UK, quark-filled pasta from Iceland, or even pizza topped with quark from Germany.

Cream cheese and sour cream

Cream cheese and sour cream are some of the higher-fat cultured products that provide a lot of richness and indulgence to food. Out of the 9,000 new product launches, over half of them contain cream cheese or sour cream. Both ingredients are used in sweet and savory products.

Like yogurt, there are also dry forms of cream cheese and sour cream. The traditional applications for cream cheese are cheesecake, spreads, and bakery fillings. Some new products include carbonara pasta sauce from Bangladesh, matcha flavored ice cream coated with Belgian chocolate and shortbread crumble from the Philippines (cream cheese is in the shortbread crumble), frozen baked shrimp with asparagus and dill sauce in a crunchy butter dough from Denmark, crab cakes from the U.S., or strawberry cheesecake and chocolate heart ice cream from Romania. 

Some common ingredient uses for sour cream include dips or as a seasoning for salty snacks, such as sour cream and onion flavors which use sour cream powder. Many new salty snacks from around the world are still using sour cream and onion seasoning for chips and crackers. New product examples using sour cream include curd cake or cream pudding from Estonia, a spicy beef rice bowl with sour cream sauce from South Africa, spicy nacho cheese soup from the U.S., and a garlic shrimp dish from Germany.

These products are just a handful of examples of how the world uses cultured products in different foods. It is a reminder that these core dairy products have an important place in our daily diet, even if they are not consumed as a fresh dairy product alone. 

In all of these products, the cultured dairy product provides a unique flavor, function, and nutrition that reinforces the healthy halo and clean label that dairy products provide. For anyone developing new products, the possibilities are endless when using cultured dairy products.