Skyr looks like yogurt, tastes something like yogurt, and sits right there in the yogurt aisle. But it isn't yogurt, technically. The distinction comes down to a small amount of rennet (the same enzyme used to turn milk into cheese) added alongside the culture that gives skyr its familiar tang. That one ingredient is enough to classify it, in the eyes of dairy science anyway, as a cheese. But don't rush to put it on your cheese board just yet.
Skyr has been made in Iceland since the Norse settlers arrived in the ninth century, and it stuck around long after the rest of Europe drifted toward yogurt and kefir. For generations it was made at home, each new batch started with a spoonful of the last, similar to the way a sourdough starter gets passed along.
The method hasn't changed much since. Skimmed milk is cultured, set with rennet, and strained through cloth until the whey drains away. It takes about four cups of milk to end up with one cup of skyr, which is the whole reason it's so thick and high in protein. A typical serving runs somewhere around 15 to 20 grams, more than double what you'd get from regular yogurt, with very little fat and no added sugar in the plain version.
In Iceland, it's a simple breakfast, spooned into a bowl with berries and a drizzle of honey. That's still the easiest way to eat it. Stirred into oatmeal or blended into a smoothie, it does the same job with more staying power than milk.
A serving of Skyr carries real protein without much fat attached to it, enough to make a meal out of a few spoonfuls. The flavor is mild rather than sharp, which suits a bowl of fruit in the morning just as well as a savory dip by evening. No occasion is required, and no particular skill either. It's simply a thick, protein-heavy dairy product, and there's hardly a wrong way to spoon it out.
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