Auntie’s yogurt makes comeback

Amos Smith who is launching a new yoghurt called Mossy's from a secret family recipe.

Amos Smith, 20, grew up with Auntie Jo’s yogurt in his family, and has launched his own business around it after bringing it out of retirement.

The yogurt, made by Jo Cable, who was known within the family as ‘Auntie Jo’, was sold through a health food shop in Aldeburgh in the 1980s, but after that closed in 1983, it went back to being a family secret.

“It used to sell out like hot cakes,” said Amos, whose nickname is Mossy.

“It proved so popular in the years that it was sold, that Auntie Jo ended up making as much as 24 litres a week from her little old kitchen. The summer holidaymakers loved it as much as the locals.”

Amos trialled the yogurt, re-branded under the name Mossy’s Yogurt, at last year’s Aldeburgh Food and Drink Festival at Snape Maltings, after he was given a spot in the young producers’ area. He was so thrilled with the response, he decided to quit his job selling coffee and coffee machines for an Ipswich firm and set up his own venture.

“The reception was absolutely awesome,” he said.

Amos, who is originally from Aldeburgh and went to Larchcroft School in Ipswich, left school at 17 and always wanted to set up his own business.

His father, Ben Smith, runs Elmwood Nurseries in Knodishall, near Leiston, while his uncle, Simon Rich, runs a medical supplies firm in Carlton, Saxmundham.

Initially, the yogurt will be made in Kent, but Amos hopes to bring production to Suffolk once the brand is more established.

“We are using a small, family-run dairy in Kent that still uses traditional methods,” he said.

He hopes to have the yogurt in shops by next month, if not before.

“We already have people that can’t wait to buy and vice-versa, we can’t wait to share it.”

Aldeburgh Food and Drink Festival takes place at Snape Maltings on September 26 and 27.