I've been having a running argument with a friend about yogurt and how it has changed over the years and figured I'd poll the group on their opinion.

I can recall when I had my first taste of frozen yogurt. I was a graduate student, and the student union installed a frozen yogurt stand....I think it was Dannon, but I could be wrong. This had to be about 1975 or so. I don't think I had ever tasted yogurt at all before then, but I really liked the frozen stuff, so I started eating regluar yogurt, too. Now the taste I recall had a real tang to it, especially the frozen yogurt. It didn't taste at all like the frozen "custard" served at Dairy Queen. It wasn't just sour; it was tangy. Sweet, but with a refreshing tartness. These days, I can hardly tell the difference between frozen yogurt and soft-serve "ice cream". Regular, non-frozen yogurt is also bland to me.

So....is it my old taste buds, or have the yogurt manufacturers changed the cultures to eliminate what was good to me but may have turned other folks off?

My friend is convinced the cultures are the same but that there is so much added sugar that the tang I remember is covered up. He swears that I could get the original taste back by using some plain yogurt as a source for a culture to make my own yogurt. However, even the plain yogurt doesn't seem to have the same taste that I remember, so how could that culture make home made yogurt taste like the old stuff?

Chuck