I have a rule about small producers. If I have to go out of my way to get something, it has to be better, not just different. Different is easy. Better is rare.
Lemon3 Farm is out in Glen Austin, on the far side of Midrand, down a road most people in Joburg have never had a reason to drive. They make Greek yoghurt by hand in small batches. Three flavours, plus plain in two sizes. That is the whole business. No range extensions, no drinking yoghurt, no protein version with a cartoon on the tub.
So I went and got some, and then I ate it for a week to see if the rule holds.
What you are actually buying
The range is short enough to list in one breath.
Flavoured Greek yoghurt in 150ml tubs at R25 each, in lemon, strawberry and blueberry. Plain Greek yoghurt at R55 for 500ml and R105 for a litre.
That is it. Handmade, small batch, and sold direct rather than through a shelf somewhere.
The plain one is the actual product
Start with the plain, because that is where a yoghurt maker has nowhere to hide. Flavour covers a multitude of sins. Plain does not.
It is thick in the way strained yoghurt is supposed to be thick, which is to say a spoon stands up in it rather than sinking through. It is properly sour at the back end without going sharp, and it does not have that slightly slick, gummy mouthfeel you get from the supermarket tubs that lean on thickeners to fake the texture. Cream first, tang second, and nothing else fighting for attention.
If you have only ever eaten Greek style yoghurt out of a big brand tub, the difference is not subtle. It is the same jump as going from mass produced bread to a real loaf.
The flavoured ones
The lemon is the one I would send someone to buy first. It tastes like lemon, not like sweets that were once introduced to a lemon. Strawberry and blueberry are both good, both restrained on the sugar, and both taste like fruit was involved rather than a syrup.
The 150ml size is the right call. It is a single sitting, and it means you can put three flavours in the fridge instead of committing to one.
The honest part
At R25 for 150ml, the flavoured tubs are not a bargain buy. You are paying a small producer premium and you should go in knowing that. The value sits in the litre of plain at R105, which is genuinely well priced for what it is.
The bigger cost is not money, it is the drive. You cannot pick this up on the way home unless you happen to live out that way. You message them, you check what is available, and you go and fetch it. Small batch means exactly that, and stock moves.
So back to the rule. Is it better, or just different?
It is better. Not in a way that changes your life, because it is yoghurt, but in a way you notice on the first spoon and again when you go back to the normal stuff. I would do the drive once a month for the litre. I would not do it weekly for a 150ml tub, and I do not think they would expect me to.
One thing I did not check and will not guess at, because I do not guess about this on my feed: I have not seen a halaal certificate for it. If that matters to you the way it matters to me, ask them directly before you buy.
Where to find them
Lemon3 Farm
527 Boxer Road, Glen Austin, Midrand, 1685
Phone and WhatsApp: +27 68 908 5371
Email: lemon3farm@gmail.com
Facebook: Lemon 3 Farm
Instagram: @lemon333farm
Message before you drive out.
The review is going up on TikTok
I am doing the full thing on video, including the taste test on all three flavours and which one actually wins. It goes up on my profile at @morne.ebersohn.
Nobody paid me for this. I bought the yoghurt, I ate the yoghurt, and now you know about the yoghurt. Prices are quoted at the time of publication and may change without this site being updated.
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