Here’s everything you wanted to know about Brown Cow yogurt—and weren’t afraid to let somebody else ask! If you have a specific question that is not answered here, simply contact us. We welcome your feedback.

Q. Why are you called “Brown Cow?”
Now, that is a question we can easily answer! Once upon a time, there was a family, a farm, and a lovely little brown cow named Lily. Like all Jersey cows, Lily produced buckets of rich creamy milk. In turn, the family made gallons and gallons of yogurt and later named this wonderful treat Brown Cow Yogurt after Lily, that fine bovine.

Q. Why should I buy Brown Cow yogurt?
Goodness! That’s not an exclamation, that’s pretty much the answer. Brown Cow yogurt is a product you can feel good about. We start by using milk from carefully selected local herds whose cows are noted for their rich, high protein milk. These family farmers have pledged not to treat their cows with artificial bovine growth hormone, rBGH. In addition to supporting local family farms, we also work to support the environment by donating 10 percent of our annual profits to environmental causes.

Most important, however, is the taste! We produce our yogurt using the traditional small-batch method for unsurpassed quality and flavor. To make a genuinely natural yogurt, we never use preservatives or artificial ingredients. Even though people know us best for our original Cream Top yogurt, rest assured every batch of all of our super-premium yogurts adheres to special recipes and is given meticulous attention. The end result is a wide selection of rich, creamy and positively delicious—and entirely healthy—yogurts.

Q. Why is evaporated cane juice now in the Cream Top yogurts?
We are one of the largest users of commercial grade maple syrup in the country, which is used to sweeten our Cream Top yogurts, sometimes in combination with honey. Unfortunately, our ability to secure high quality syrup in the last couple of years has been hampered by poor harvests and changing dynamics in the major maple syrup corner of the world - Quebec and New England. Warm Winters and odd Springs have affected the flow of maple, and commercial grade is the last they harvest before ending the season. There simply hasn't been enough to fulfill our needs. We are also constrained by regulations out of Canada by the government department that controls the sale of maple syrup. We've ended up not being able to get enough syrup at times to even make our yummy yogurts, or have had to use syrup of varying quality. As a result, we decided to decrease our use of pure maple syrup, although it is still our primary sweetener, and introduce evaporated cane juice. The result is that we are better able to assure you of a continuous supply of Brown Cow yogurts at a consistent high quality.

Q. What is evaporated cane juice?
Evaporated cane juice is an unrefined sugar. Besides our mission of making yogurt from ingredients as close to the earth as possible, using unrefined sugar enables us to use less sugar overall as it has a slightly sweeter natural flavor than regular refined sugar.

Q. Why is there a layer of cream at the top of your whole milk (Cream Top) yogurts?
We make our Cream Top yogurts from whole milk that is unhomogenized. After mixing our special recipe, including live active cultures in warm milk, we place the yogurt in a "hot room" where the cultures change the milk into yogurt. At the same time, the butterfat in the whole milk naturally rises to the top of the cup forming a delightfully rich layer of yogurt cream.

Q. Why does the amount of cream on the top of your whole milk (Cream Top) yogurts vary?
It’s the cows’ doing. We make our Cream Top yogurts with Jersey cow milk because Jersey milk naturally contains more butterfat than other cows’ milk. Unfortunately, the amount of butterfat from milking to milking can drastically fluctuate in each cow due to environmental factors such as cold temperatures, heat waves, stress, the amount of water each cow is drinking, etc. As the butterfat content decreases, so does our cream layer because it is the butterfat rising to the top of each delicious cup.

Q. What are the cows fed?
The cows that supply our milk are fed hays and grains including alfalfa, barley and corn. The cows are not fed any animal product meals.

Q. Is the milk you use to make Brown Cow Yogurt vitamin fortified?
No, it is our goal to make our product as pure and natural and with as little processing as possible. Vitamin fortification is only required by law for retail fluid milk.

Q. Why is there liquid (sometimes) on the top of my yogurt?
No “whey”! Ok, it’s true. This liquid, called whey is a natural component in cultured yogurt. It occurs whenever there has been any type of pressure on the curd, or also from temperature change. A little bit whey is perfectly normal. Simply stir it back into the yogurt for a smooth creamy texture you’ll love.

Q. Is Brown Cow Yogurt certified Kosher?
Yes. All of our yogurts are certified by the Orthodox Union, a kosher certification agency well known throughout the U.S. and internationally for its high standards.

Q. Is there any gluten in Brown Cow yogurts?
Our Fruit & Whole Grains yogurts contain gluten, and we make our smoothies in a facility that has not yet been certified gluten-free. Otherwise, our yogurts are certified gluten-free. Learn more on our certified gluten-free page.

Q. If there are no sweeteners in your Plain yogurt, why are there 11 grams of sugar?
The sugar grams are the lactose in the milk. Lactose is a naturally occurring carbohydrate (sugar) in milk.

Q. If your nonfat yogurts are indeed “nonfat”, why do they have so many calories?
We do not use Nutrasweet™ or other artificial sweeteners in our yogurts. The calories in question are packed with nutrition, not empty!

Q. Is there caffeine in the your Cream Top and Nonfat Chocolate yogurts and Cream Top Creamy Coffee Yogurt?
Yes. We include coffee extract in our chocolate yogurts as the extract actually enhances the pure chocolate's flavor. Because of the tart nature of yogurt, yogurt will actually “wash out” flavors such as maple syrup, lemon extract or chocolate. If we did not include coffee extract, the chocolate flavor would be highly susceptible to this “washing out” process. Even after the addition of coffee extract to these recipes, the caffeine content is only 7 to 8 mg. per cup (roughly equivalent to the caffeine in chocolate milk or 1 ounce of milk chocolate.)

Q. Why is your Vanilla Cream Top Yogurt tan or brown in color versus white?
We sweeten our Vanilla Cream Top yogurt with maple syrup. It is the maple syrup stirred in with the milk and cultures that causes the yogurt to be tan in color. This tan color is also true for our maple yogurt. Our Vanilla Yogurt is slightly browner in color as vanilla extract is dark in color also.

Q. What does the code date listed on each cup mean?
The code date listed on each cup of yogurt is a "best eaten by" date for an unopened cup of Brown Cow yogurt. We base this on the fact that the cultures in each cup are alive and active and still breaking down the lactose (milk sugar). The result is that the yogurt could become tarter each day past the code date. As we want each customer to enjoy our yogurt at its best, we recommend you use your good judgment in eating our yogurt past the code date. If the yogurt looks, smells, and tastes good, and there are no visible signs of mold, it's okay to eat.

Q. Does Brown Cow Farm offer tours to the public?
Although we would love to be able to offer tours to the public, we are a very small manufacturing plant and currently do not have the space or personnel available to offer tours.