Millennials (and parents) are reeling after finding out that pretty much every child’s favourite yoghurt isn’t actually, well, a yoghurt.
Yes dear reader, it’s actually liquid – um – cheese.
The shocking revelation was brought to light on TikTok recently when a creator called Mally said: “To a lot of you, this isn’t going to mean anything. But this means a lot to me...”
He then showed a screenshot of a Google search with the question ‘Is Petits Filous a yoghurt?’ and the top response sharing that the containers do not, in actual fact, contain yoghurt.
“Obviously I’m being dramatic, but still... I’ve been lied to. Like you’re telling me all now in primary [school] I was munching on strawberry cheese?” he said in the video which has almost 1 million views.
The reactions to his video, captioned ‘maybe I’ve just been living under a rock?’, were pretty hilarious.
“Nobody’s lied to you,” said one person in the comments section, “you just don’t know the difference between fromage frais and yoghurt.”
Another pointed out: “It literally says in that screen shot that it’s called ‘fromage frais’ and not yoghurt. Plus they don’t taste like yoghurt either.”
But others were completely floored by the revelation.
One respondent said: “Knowing it’s cheese completely puts me off.” Another added: “I thought fromage frais just meant like yoghurt for kids.”
“CHEESE? YOU LOT WERE SAVOURING LIQUID CHEESE?” shared one commenter. “It’s a good day to be allergic to dairy.”
Ok, what’s going on here?
Well it turns out Petits Filous is actually fromage frais, which translates to ‘fresh cheese’.
Yoghurt and fromage frais are fresh dairy products which means they contain some dairy ingredients such as milk. But their texture and taste might be different depending on their proteins, fat content or milk origin.
Both yoghurt and fromage frais are made from milk which is coagulated and fermented by lactic bacterial starter cultures.
In the UK, the code of practice defines fromage frais as “drained or separated to partially remove the whey or aqueous phase” whereas it is not the case for yoghurt, where no separation occurs.
The good news is that, for fromage frais, protein and calcium are naturally concentrated and therefore higher than in yoghurt.
A spokesperson from Petits Filous said that in an Instagram poll, 81% of its followers knew that it isn’t a yoghurt.
“People will be pleased to know that this recipe confusion comes with some health and taste benefits,” they said, alluding to the fact the product contains more protein and calcium.
“Fromage frais also has a smoother, softer texture and milder, creamier taste than a yoghurt,” they added.
Well now you know. (I’m still going to refer to them as yoghurts when I offer them to my daughter though.)