2. The history of yogurt follows that of milk, which
is its source ingredient. The fermented milk is
called yoğurt in Turkish, which is taken from the
root word yoğurmak, meaning “to knead or
mould,” according to Prof. Dr. Ayşe Baysal in
“Yogurt: A Globalizing Turkish Food,” published
on the Turkish Cultural Foundation website.
3. When milking animals, the process of fermenting dairy
became an integral part of it. In Prof. Baysal’s
article, historians credit the nomadic people of Central Asia
for developing fermented milk products such as yogurt. “In
Central Asia, where summertime temperatures reach 40 C
(105 F), they noticed that milk soured/clabbered after a short
time.” the thick and smooth stuff that rises to the top were
then strained and made into cheese, after which yogurt
making, with its tangy goodness, was developed.
4. Back then, “yogurt was made and stored in animal skins, or in
wooden or earthen vessels. Yogurt was also placed in an animal
skin, known as a tuluk, and churned with a wooden implement
made especially for the purpose to make butter,” writes
professor Baysal. As the Turks travelled the world, so did the
production of yogurt spread in countries such as “Anatolia, the
Caucasus, Russia, and the countries of East and Central
Europe, as well as China and India.” The Turkish immigrants’
yogurt making tradition reached North America in the 18th
century but did not yet flourish large-scale.
5. But it is only in 1919 when industrial yogurt
making was introduced, in Barcelona, Spain. It
is attributed to Isaac Carasso in 1919 whose
yogurt company was called Danone, named
after his son Daniel, according to the Dairy
Farmers of Canada website. That son, Daniel
Carasso, together with Juan Metzger “took over
a small yogurt factory in the Bronx, New York” in
the 1940s. It became known as Dannon in the
United States.
6. Yogurt became even more popular as the health food culture gained
ground from the 1950s onwards. Now we have a wide range of
yogurts to choose from, including products like frozen yogurts and
yogurt pops. Also, with Middle Eastern and Mediterranean dishes
becoming known in the food world outside of their countries of
origin, so did the yogurt-based dishes in their cuisines.
Yogurt Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
