How To Snack Well: These Yoghurt Drinks Were Made For Summer

Ever since I’ve been aware of the concept of Saturday morning, my dad has played badminton on it. When I was little, he’d come home from the game with his friend Andrew for a fry-up but, on the way, he’d pick up a raspberry Yop. There was simply no way of making it from badminton to breakfast without this yogurty bridge. We, the children, weren’t allowed Yop so it rooted itself in my brain as a luxury item. and I have never stopped thinking of yogurt drinks as such.

On a long car journey I love to pull into M&S Simply Food for a bottle of ‘vanilla bean, maple syrup and yogurt smoothie’ even though it’s all flecks of vanilla and too much sugar. My favourite Turkish lunch spot in Hackney serves a great ‘frappé’ – an icy blend of strawberries, bananas, honey and yogurt. And in LA, the nicest thing I’ve ever drunk is not a tequila sunrise or even a margarita, but the orange blossom yogurt drink at Kismet Falafel - attempted with utmost respect in the selection below.

When did you last glug yogurt? In 2014, the Nutribullet popularised liquidised kale. In that era, a man once told me he only consumed green juices on weekdays and almond milk-based drinks on weekends, a level of order I cannot countenance. But now we’ve entered the kefir (fermented milk) years and supermarkets are devoting entire sections of their fridges to it and its smoothies. Tart, dairy-based slurping is back. In India it never stopped, of course. Salty lassis come with a touch of cumin and sweet ones come frothy and creamy with a whisper of cardamom. Lassis are made with fruits of all persuasions – mango, papaya and avocado.

With all this in mind, I’ve been busy blitzing. My favourite yogurt drinks are below but I could’ve carried on forever. They really come into their own after the gym, over ice, in the spring sunshine. My dad was on to something. These all make two small servings. Just put everything into the blender and blitz.

Yogurt Drinks You’ll Say Yes To

The One That Tastes Of Roses

180g strawberries 220g Greek yogurt 2 tbsp milk

1 tbsp honey

1⁄2 tsp rose water

The One Inspired By LA

The juice of 4 oranges

220g Greek yogurt

11⁄2 tbsp honey

3⁄4 tsp orange blossom water

The Apple-Cinnamon One

1 green apple, cored and chopped

220g Greek yogurt

5 tbsp milk

2 tbsp brown sugar 1⁄2 tsp cinnamon

The Perfectly Peach-coloured One

200g cantaloupe melon, chopped

220g Greek yogurt

4 tbsp milk

1 tbsp honey

Seeds from 4 cardamom pods, crushed

The One That Tastes Like Pudding

6 pitted dates, chopped

300g Greek yogurt

1⁄2 tsp vanilla extract

8 tbsp mils

Read more: Check out these vegan snack ideas