Tzatziki sauce, typical of Greek cuisine, is also appreciated in Italy. It is easy to prepare at home, but even easier to buy ready-made. Unfortunately, there are products to avoid lurking in supermarkets, with ingredients foreign to the original Greek recipe, such as sugar, palm oil, egg, as well as preservative and thickening additives. We have identified and compared 4 easily available in supermarkets and on platforms ecommerce of the large-scale retail trade.
Zorbas, the tzatziki sauce with palm oil
The worst product comes directly from Greece, homeland of the fresh and tangy sauce. The Zorbas Tzatziki consists of more than a third (34.5%) of a ‘yogurt sauce’ of poor quality, made of skimmed milk powder, milk proteins, fully hydrogenated vegetable fat (palm), lactic ferments, modified corn starch, gelatin. An abomination.
Contains 4 additives. Among these, to avoid is sodium benzoate (E211), a preservative widely used in food products (but banned in organic), so much so that it easily exceeds the ADI (acceptable daily intake) of 6 mg per kg of body weight (mg/Kg bw).
In relation to its consumption, hypersensitivity and allergy reactions occur (asthma, itching, redness). This preservative is also suspected to promote hyperactivity in children, alone or in combination with some azo dyes.
Not recommended are also the two thickeners/emulsifiers xanthan gum (E415) and guar gum (E412), which in case of high consumption or combined can cause gastrointestinal disorders, such as bloating, flatulence, and laxative effect.
The dressing tzatziki figuratively speaking
The dressing for salad tzatziki really has little to do with the typical Greek sauce. This condiment produced in Germany mixes rapeseed oil with vinegar and onion with two tzatziki ingredients, namely skimmed pasteurized yogurt (11%) and cucumbers.
Spanish tzatziki with additives
The recipe the tzatziki produced in Spain by Sun & Vegs approaches the traditional one but uses additives. Greek yogurt accounts for 70% of the product and is made with milk, cream, milk proteins and lactic ferments. Cucumbers are at 14%, the oil is olive, and green mint (0.2%) is added. In addition to sugar, salt and pepper, three additives are present. Citric acid, potassium sorbate and the already mentioned xanthan gum as a thickener.
Less rigorous is the labeling, evidently poorly cared for by the operator who markets it in Italy. Instead of ‘develops’ (your imagination), the package reads ‘deteriorates’.
Kourellas organic tzatziki, the best
In Kourellas organic tzatziki sauce the recipe is simple, well cared for and free of additives. After all, organic products do not allow the use of the most problematic additives. And in this case, there are none at all. The list includes Greek yogurt, (pasteurized cow’s milk, cream, live and active cultures L. bulgaricus, S. thermophilus, L. acidophilus, Bifidus, L. casei), cucumber 19.6%, sea salt, garlic and vinegar.
The tzatziki sauce organic by Kourellas (first organic dairy founded in Greece in 1996) is the most expensive in the sample. Unfortunately, in all food sectors the marketing of food low cost well advertised but made with low-quality raw materials and an abundance of additives has distorted the market. Even those with spending power sometimes prefer to invest in designer plastic shoes rather than healthy and sustainable food.
Professional journalist since January 1995, she has worked for newspapers (Il Messaggero, Paese Sera, La Stampa) and magazines (NumeroUno, Il Salvagente). Author of journalistic investigations on food, she published the book 'Reading labels to know what we eat'.
