What is Yoo-Hoo

Yoo-Hoo is not a chocolated nondairy creamer; the label claims milk and whey.  The chocolate flavor is from natural cocoa, synthetic vanillin, and some unspecified natural flavorings.  Yoo-Hoo is made in part from seaweed (the “carrageenan gum” they hope you won’t notice on the label).  Coconut oil replaces the fat lost by watering down the whey-milk mixture.  Whatever’s in Yoo-Hoo, a lot of it precipitates out to form a three-tone layer of sediment at the bottom of the bottle or can.  From bottom to top, the layers are dark brown, light brown, and burnt sienna.
Industry sources say Yoo-Hoo owes its open-ended shelf life to a special steam sterilization process.  Sterilization takes place after the bottles are filled and capped but before labels are applied.  Unopened Yoo-Hoo is as sterile as a Band-Aid; as long as it’s sealed, it can’t go sour.

From: Big Secrets by: William Poundstone

Yoo-Hoo is not a chocolated nondairy creamer; the label claims…