Skyr looks like yogurt but is technically a fresh cheese - cultured and strained until it is dense, tart and packed with protein, made in Iceland since the Viking age.
About Skyr
A high-precision; protein-dense dairy heritage product technically classified as a soft cheese; cultured with ancestral strains for over 1;000 years; it offers a panoramic silkiness and a tart; clean finish; 'insiders' eat it with a high-intensity splash of heavy cream and a dusting of brown sugar.
Not a Yogurt
Skyr looks and behaves like a thick, mild yogurt, but it is technically a fresh cheese. It is made by culturing skimmed milk and straining off the whey until what remains is dense, tart and very high in protein while almost fat-free. The straining is what gives it its characteristic thickness.
“Skyr looks and behaves like a thick, mild yogurt, but it is technically a fresh cheese.”
A Thousand-Year Staple
Icelanders have made skyr since the age of settlement, and for centuries it was a staple that helped feed people through long, hard winters. Its keeping quality and nourishment made it essential on an island with a short growing season. Few foods connect modern Iceland so directly to its Viking-age past.
How It Is Eaten
Traditionally skyr is stirred with a little milk to loosen it, then eaten with sugar and berries, especially the wild bilberries of late summer. It appears at breakfast, as a dessert and blended into drinks. In its homeland it is thicker and tangier than the versions sold abroad.
A Modern Export
In recent years skyr has been exported worldwide as a high-protein health food, often thinner and sweeter than the Icelandic original. The plain, traditional style, stirred with a splash of milk and topped with skyr cream and bilberries, remains the one to seek out. Cheap and sold in great variety in Icelandic shops, it makes an ideal budget breakfast on a pricey island.
What to Expect
A bowl of skyr in Iceland is thicker and tangier than the exported versions, often topped with cream, sugar and wild bilberries. Supermarkets carry a wall of flavours, but the plain, traditional style stirred with a splash of milk is the one to try.
Why Try It
Skyr is the everyday taste of Iceland and a direct link to how the island fed itself for a thousand years, far better in its homeland than the thinner export versions abroad.
Insider Tips
- Try the plain traditional skyr stirred with milk before reaching for the sweetened flavours.
- Top it with Icelandic skyr cream and wild bilberries in late summer for the classic version.
- Supermarkets sell it cheaply in huge variety, a great budget breakfast on a pricey island.
