Trendspotting: Skyr

Greek and Australian yogurts may have gone mainstream but now skyr, an Icelandic-style yogurt, is having its moment. Skyr, which has been part of the Icelandic diet since the ninth century, tastes slightly more sour than American yogurt and contains far less sugar. In Denver, Mercantile Dining & Provision and Fruition Restaurant are largely responsible for pushing the ingredient forward. That’s because the high-protein treat is made at chef-owner Alex Seidel‘s sheep dairy and creamery near Larkspur.

Seidel’s restaurants may be championing the item, but it’s also showing up elsewhere: At last year’s Taste of Iceland dinner at Coohills, dessert consisted of skyr with wild blueberries; a skyr sorbet with white chocolate, cream cheese mousse, and raspberries is on the menu for this year’s dinners (September 23–26). Meanwhile, the Truffle Cheese Shop on Sixth Avenue, sells the highly coveted yogurt and offers a recipe for a fruit and nut skyr parfait. And last week on Instagram, Denver-based food and wine writer Jamie Marie Henderson, who posts under the handle HollyandFlora, showed off a Palisade peach and skyr popsicle dipped in granola.

Find it: Order Fruition’s octopus carpaccio dish with Ibérico chorizo, red quinoa tabbouleh, and skyr. Or taste the ingredient at Mercantile in the veggie naan sandwich or the cucumber-sorrel gazpacho with heirloom melon and skyr sorbet. Morning-goers can also find skyr yogurt parfaits in Mercantile’s grab-and go section.

Mercantile Dining & Provision, Union Station, 1701 Wynkoop St., 720-460-3733

Fruition Restaurant, 1313 E. Sixth Ave., 303-831-1962

Coohills, 1400 Wewatta St., 303-623-5700

The Truffle Cheese Shop, 2906 E. Sixth Ave., 303-322-7363

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—Photo via Shutterstock