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Pequea Valley Yogurt from along the Pequea Creek
Along the southern bank in a hairpin bend of the Pequea Creek, Pequea Valley Yogurt was born on the Pequea Valley Farm. The year was 2003. As with any startup company, it took a lot of hard work and endurance to get things moving forward in a positive manner. But eventually local foodies at the local farmers market became introduced to the now well-known great taste of the grass fed Pequea Valley yogurt.
Lancaster County offers quite a few local, small-farmed, goods. And Pequea Valley qualifies today as another of those tasteful and successful entrepreneur endeavors. Just like the well-known great taste of Lancaster County pies, breads, cheese, and produce, Pequea Valley Greek yogurt bursts with flavor.
At first they only made a little yogurt each week. Only a few small distributors carried the yogurt. Pequea only offered a few selections and would even split up cases of differing flavors. There just was not enough consumer demand to sell the it in full cases, even to the distributors.
Growth took Time
As time continued, the market picked up, more popularity brought more demand. More demand brought on more need for volume, each year increasing modestly. This enabled the family to profitably continue to grow production according to the growth of the consumers call for their delicious yogurt.
In time they were able to connect with many of the PA Dutch Farmer’s Markets scattered over Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware and even some into New Jersey. Consumers enjoyed the thick, sweet yogurt. Thus a loyal customer base was formed.
Pequea Valley Farm started making yogurt in order for Abner King to make his farm profitable. He had a small farm. Small farms prosper only with niche farming and marketing projects. Only 30 acres cannot sustain itself by milking enough cows to pay for the farm in Lancaster County. Eventually financial benefits have enabled him to assist neighbors, too. Today five grass fed farms enjoy the privilege of selling their milk via the Pequea Valley yogurt with its well-known great taste.
Going Greek before Greek got Going
Pequea Valley Farm makes a Greek Yogurt where they drain off some of the whey to help make a thicker product. This was prior to the Greek yogurt fad that has swept all across the United States, seriously expanding the yogurt selections in the supermarkets. Pequea Valley was there prior to all the hype; just only a few local foodies knew about it. And since they had started this product prior to the Greek yogurt rage, they never had it listed on the containers that it was a Greek yogurt. Perhaps in time this will be incorporated with the labeling.
Besides the draining off of some of the whey, Pequea Valley does include tapioca starch to aid in the thickening of the product. This gives even more of a custard texture, which very nicely accents their chocolate offering. Join local foodies enjoying this line of Greek yogurt from grass fed, small farms.
One thing that has made this line a favorite of many is the sweetness it offers. Some folks that do not like yogurt enjoy this. The more custard-like texture along with the sweetness is more palatable than many others. Perhaps this has been one of the secrets of success for Pequea Valley Farm, attributing to the well-know great taste!
But as sweetness pleases the children, some parents prefer a lesser sweet option such as the Pequea Valley Maple Yogurt. The maple has a very nice maple flavor. Pure maple syrup yields a nice flavor as it sweetens the tartness. There are no other sweeteners added to it. And so you will enjoy the simple ingredients of milk, maple syrup, Natamax (a natural mold and yeast inhibitor), and a number of live, active cultures.
The Healthiest of Pequea Valley Yogurt
The Plain Yogurt from Pequea Valley Farm is by far the healthiest selection. The farm only uses two ingredients: milk and live cultures. They do not add any sugar.
Jersey cows produce the milk for the Pequea Valley goods. And Jersey cows give rich milk with a high butterfat content. These farms commit to not using any rBST hormones. As the packaging states, the cows are grass fed. This does not mean the cows are receiving no grains but that they do have grass fed along with grain in their diets. Pequea Valley sources their milk from farms using no corn silage. But dried grains are accepted.
The dairies producing this milk may at times use some antibiotics for treatment of health issues. Therapeutic treatment is used to treat sick cows. But Pequea Valley does not use this milk during that period for the production of Pequea Valley products with its well-known great taste.