Perfect strawberry milk? (Yazoo Strawberry Flavour Milkshake)

Member Name: cyberem78

Product:	Yazoo Strawberry Flavour Milkshake
Date:	08/05/09 (120 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Low in fat, no artificial flavours or sweeteners. Vegetarian.

Disadvantages: Flavour tastes fake. Too sweet.

Yazoo is a strawberry flavoured milk that I feel is aimed at children but which can also be consumed by adults. The slightly zany product name had always put me off this before now - I just assumed it was a kiddies drink that was probably pumped full of sugar and artificial colours and flavours. However I recently went on the search for the perfect strawberry milk for an upcoming birthday party and tried this Campina 'Yazoo' along with a few other alernative strawberry milk drinks. This is my verdict:

Yazoo is sold in clear plastic bottles which can be recycled after use. They have a screw top and underneath a foil seal which needs to be peeled away prior to first use which reassures me that the product will be fresh. Once opened the drink should be treat in the same way as fresh milk - kept refridgerated and consumed quickly. There is a paper label on the bottle which provides much information such as ingredients and nutritional values.

There are mainly good things to note about the nutritional values: 100mls of the drink provides 1.2g of fat and 65 calories. However it also provides calcium which is great for maintaining healthy bones and teeth, vitamin B12 which is especially great for vegetarians and fibre. The milk used in the ingredients is semi-skimmed and skimmed, so the fat content is reduced in this way. Amazingly there are no artificial flavours or sweeteners in the drink which is a definate plus. It is also labelled as suitable for vegetarians. It also meets the UK government's regulations for use in schools which is a great endorsement. Whislt the drink is labelled low in fat and with less than 5% sugar I still feel this should be drunk in moderation though!

I bought the 1 litre bottle but they also come in smaller bottles. I have been looking for a strawberry milk that I can use as a milkshake for an upcoming party and have certain ideas about what boxes my perfect milkshake should tick: it should be smooth, frothy, delicate, for kids and adults, and not too artificial in flavour. Yazoo is quite dark pink in colour - this a result of added beta-carotene. I personally find the colour a little too dark and off-putting. It looks very artificial and very much something only kids would like to be seen drinking.

The consistency of the milk is quite thin. I did expect some milkshake style bubbles but they didn't appear. The milk is much too thin, almost watery, because it is skimmed and semi-skimmed. If you whisk it with a fork a fine froth appears but it quick to melt away! It does have a very smooth texture however, as you are sipping it. It feels soft and silky - not quite as much as soya milk can feel soft, but it is a very nice texture.

The taste is very sweet and the strawberry taste is similar to Nesquik strawberry milk or milkshake straws. It is a slightly 'fake' strawberry taste. The ingredients show that there is 1% added strawberry juice whilst another ingredient simply states 'natural flavour' but I have no idea what that is or what this means! I would say that the strawberry flavour is not subtle and would probably appeal more to children that adults. I added ice to mine and found this weakened the flavour to a degree that satisfied me.

I think Yazoo is a decent strawberry milk drink which pleases me in terms of ingredients, fat content etc and which I've no doubt would appeal to most kids. However, having tried other strawberry milks I would say that Yazoo would not be my first choice of product. I would actually recommend Tesco's own Strawberry milk in a carton which is slightly more subtle and has a thicker, creamy consistency that really says luxury.

For more information on Yazoo check out the website:

www.yazoo.co.uk

Summary: A good strawberry milk drink for kids.