A few years ago banana yogurt was an absolute favorite of mine and then to my dismay, the brand I regularly bought discontinued the flavor. For years I've watched yogurt companies produce every flavor under the sun: strawberry, raspberry, peach, mixed berry, lemon meringue and capuccino (Really? Even for coffee-lovers, that's a bit of a stretch). However it seemed my love affair with banana yogurt had come to an abrupt end.

That was, until a few weeks ago when I was patrolling the organic section of the local grocery store and came across the Yobaby line of yogurt by Stonyfield Farm. It was pleasantly surprising to see all-natural yogurt that falls under the 100 calorie-per-100 gram serving mark without the usual addition of artificial sweeteners, and even containing two grams of fiber. My heart skipped a beat when I saw the flavor and realized banana yogurt had made it's unannounced return back into my life. Even better, was the discovery that the yogurt tastes as good as one would hope: rich, creamy and real banana flavor.

Yobaby, as the name would suggest, is made for people far younger than me. However with ingredients such as organic whole milk, vitamin D, organic fruit puree and the usual healthy benefits of yogurt including magnesium, calcium and vitamins B2 and B12, this is probably still a better alternative than consuming mass quantities of aspartame or Splenda. The fruit puree leaves the yogurt without chunks, making it the perfect choice for babies nine months and older.

As it turns out, Stonyfield Farm's Canadian brand actually makes a line of organic yogurt for adults (though sadly, no banana flavor in the big-people stuff). The adult version contains all of the good-for-you ingredients of Yobaby, but with pieces of fruit. All of the yogurts use ingredients that are certified organic and do not contain any antibiotics, synthetic growth hormones, preservatives, artificial flavors or chemical dyes.

If you live in the U.S., Stonyfield Farm also carries organic smoothies, organic yogurt specifically designed for moms, soy yogurt, organic ice cream and organic milk. The Yobaby line in the U.S. also comes in Fruit & Cereal Yogurt and Drinkable Yogurt.

The company also believes in practicing environmental stewardship and donates 10% of their profits each year to projects that help protect and restore the earth.

In the future, we hope to see some of the products available in the U.S. make their way north across the border to Canada (hint hint!). However, right now as the honeymoon phase with my beloved banana yogurt continues, you won't hear too much in the way of complaints coming from this direction!

» Stonyfield Farm (Official Site)