About Yogurt

Yogurt is one the staples of the Turkish cuisine. Chef Fisun Ercan prepared a detail document about Yogurt and its importance in Turkish culture, cuisine. We would like to share this document with you.

Yogurt (also spelled yogourt or yoghurt) is a semi-solid fermented milk product.

The contemporary achievement-oriented urbanite, eager to increase his source of world-conquering stamina, might be interested to know that the Turkish and Mongol horsemen who subdued most of Asia in the thirteenth century subsisted largely on yogurt. Even for those whose ambitions are not quite vast, yogurt has much to recommend it. Although its popularity in Europe and America is fairly recent, yogurt is an ancient food and probably the sole major contribution of the nomadic peoples to the gastronomic resources of the world.

It is difficult to assign a time and place of origin to yogurt, for it may well have arisen in different areas and locations. But two factors must have been involved: a hot climate, to cause the first, unintended curdling of milk; and a nomadic, pastoral way of life in which men depended entirely on their livestock for sustenance and had little or no access to vegetables or grains. The ancient Near East certainly knew yogurt; the Bible alludes to it (Job 10:10), and both the Egyptians and the Hebrews made use of it. It is probable; however, that yogurt originated with the Scythians, a nomadic people of Central Asia, and was conveyed by them to ancient Iran, whence it spread to the rest of Near East (as well as to India). Yogurt was appreciated with Greeks, and Galen praised its curative as well as nutritional benefits. Of all peoples bordering on Central Asia, only the Chinese, with their tendency toward culinary chauvinism, resisted the appeal of yogurt, indeed of milk products in general.

The Huns, the first of Asian nomadic peoples to enter Europe, consumed a kind of yogurt called lo, but they bequeathed virtually nothing of their modest culture to Europe. In the seventh century the Bulgars – originally a Turkic people until their environment slavicized them- knew yogurt. But of all the Central Asian people, it was certainly the Turks who did the most to popularize yogurt and incorporate it in sophisticated cuisine. The very word yogurt is often said to be of Turkish origin, coming from an ancient Turkish root meaning “to thicken”. When Turks arrived first in Anatolia and then in the Balkans, yogurt and yogurt-based dishes on the menu at the palace and Istanbul had no fewer than five hundred yogurt shops in the middle of seventeenth century, all subject to a careful quality control by the market authorities. It was from Istanbul that the first recorded transmission of yogurt to post medieval Europe took place: François I of France was cured of intestinal disease by a diet of yogurt prescribes by a courtier who had spent some time in Turkey.

The modern popularity of yogurt in the West is quite recent and connected with medicinal properties attributed to it. In 1913, Elie Metchinkoff, head of the Pasteur Institute in Paris, noted the curious fact that Bulgars, one of the least developed peoples in long life expectancy. This he attributed in part to their regular consumption of yogurt. Numerous medical traditions, both formal and folk, had long discerned all kinds of properties in yogurt: it was though to ward to ward off sleeplessness, nervousness, impotence, allergies, ulcers, and arthritis, to act as an intestinal detoxicant, and to be a remedy for sunburn when applied to skin. Current research suggests that yogurt may indeed have certain therapeutic benefits. In particular, yogurt is helpful to infants, the aged, the convalescent, people with sensitive stomachs who for various reasons cannot tolerate the lactose in milk.

The bacteria in yogurt break down and reduce the lactose, thus making yogurt more digestible than milk for this reason, yogurt is the first food given after mother's milk in certain countries, including Turkey. There, yogurt forms part of the daily diet of almost all hospital patients. Professor John Bruhn of the Department of Food Technology at the University of California at Davis tells me that a number of research centers across the country are now investigating why and how yogurt should benefit some people in this way, in the hope that the beneficial effects of yogurt may be extended to everyone.

There is, in any event, a consensus that yogurt is a nutritive, gentle, and relatively low-calorie food, as well as being a source of energy. If we truly aspire to longevity, we should perhaps begin looking to the centenarian yogurt eaters of Turkey, the Balkans, and the Caucasus!

To tell the truth, however, I regard yogurt mostly as a delicious food eaten by itself and as a versatile cooking ingredient to be used in a wide variety of dishes, not as an aid to dieting or the pursuit of longevity we mayor may not deserve.

Yogurt is milk fermented and coagulated by benign bacteria. To make your own all you need is milk and yogurt culture or starter.

The milk can be almost any kind available: sheep's milk, cow's milk, or goat's milk. If you use raw milk, however, it must be pasteurized by heating to 145 degrees and holding it at this temperature for at least 30 minutes. Milk and then the yogurt can vary in richness from nonfat to half-and-half. Whatever milk you use, make sure it is fresh.

You need yogurt to make yogurt. Use 2 tablespoons yogurt for 1 quart of milk. The yogurt can be homemade or store-bought. Read the expiration date on the carton of store-bought to be sure you are using very fresh yogurt. The longer yogurt stands, the sourer it gets. Sweet yogurt produces sweet yogurt, and sour yogurt produces sour yogurt.

The choice of raw materials will greatly affect the quality of the finished product.

• Type of milk
• Milk standardization
• Additives
• Choice of starter culture
• Culture preparation
• Design of process pant
• Heat treatment
• Homogenization

Yogurt bacteria need heat to germinate and thicken the milk; 105 to 115 degrees is the temperature range for that process. The milk must first be heated to 180 to 195 degrees and then cooled to 105 to 115 degrees. (By the way, if you hold the milk at 180 to 195 degrees-in a double boiler, to prevent it from scorching-for a period of 5 to 20 minutes, the yogurt will be firmer and more intense in flavor. The longer you hold it at this temperature the firmer the yogurt becomes. This procedure, however, is optional.)s. This procedure, however, is optional.)

Once the milk has cooled to 105 to 115 degrees, mix the starter-which should be at room temperature-with 2 to 3 table¬spoons of the warm milk and then stir it back into the rest of the milk quickly. As soon as the starter has been introduced into the milk, it should be maintained at this temperature constantly throughout the incubation period; the yogurt bacteria are very sensitive to changing heat.

The temperature of the environment in which the bacteria in¬cubate affects the taste and texture of the yogurt as well as the time needed for it to set. All these things are interrelated.

If the temperature of the milk is maintained at 110 degrees during the incubation period, it will set within 4 to 5 hours and the yogurt will be pleasantly sweet. However, yogurt incubating in the folds of blankets in a cold room (in which case the temperature of the milk will fall) will take 8 to 14 hours to set.

Once we understand the importance of maintaining the milk at a temperature of 105 to 110 degrees during the incubation period, the next question is how to do so. One sure way is to cover the bowl and place it immediately in a pan of water at 110 degrees before the temperature drops. Keep the water temperature constant by placing the pan on a warm spot over a gas stove or in an oven with the pilot light burning. Then monitor the temperature of the water with a thermometer. If you do not have a gas stove be inventive!

Traditionally the milk is kept warm within the folds of warm woolen blankets, put somewhere warm-perhaps next to a radiator-and draft free. Every yogurt maker eventually finds his or her ideal place for yogurt making. But to begin with I strongly recommend maintaining constant warmth in a pan of warm water as described above.

It is also important not to over incubate yogurt. Kept warm long after it has set it will get sourer with every passing hour. If you like sweet, mellow yogurt, you must check it after 4 to 5 hours. If you wish to have sour yogurt, leave it for as long as 24 hours. If you are making it in the folds of blankets, for example in a cold room, check after 8 hours. If it has not yet set, cover it again and check after 1 hour.

Whichever way you choose to make yogurt, once the starter has been introduced into the milk, do not disturb it, shake it, or move it from one place to another. Do not use it right after it has set. Let it stand in the refrigerator for a few hours to thicken further.

When you make yogurt at home, using your homemade yogurt as starter each time, the bacteria may lose some of the organisms after a while; your yogurt may taste different and the texture may change. If this happens, you must use fresh starter: buy some yogurt and start over.

Finally, I recommend that you experiment, making certain changes each time you make yogurt. You may heat the milk to varying temperatures within the range of 180 to 195 degrees. You may hold it there for just a few minutes or as long as 20 minutes. You may cool it down to 105 to no degrees. Sometimes you may keep it warm for 4 to 5 hours, at other times much longer. Try these variations and you will ultimately discover the kind of yogurt you like best.

So, are you ready to add a little yogurt to your diet? Want to make it at home? It’s simple. Take some milk (ordinary or skim milk, it does not matter) and bring it to the boil, and then pour it into a container. If you want the yogurt to have a thicker consistency, then add some powdered skim milk. Let it cool down, then add some yogurt culture, or some store brought yogurt, about half a cup to a quart of milk. Stir well until no lumps remain. Then cover the container in a blanket, or keep it in a warm place, around 55 to 60 degrees Celsius overnight. Sometimes there is difficultly keeping the mixture warm, so it is recommended that you buy a ‘yogurt maker’ which keeps the mixture at its needed temperature. Once it has thickened, you can put it in the refrigerator until you want to eat it.

As you can see, yogurt has a lot going for it. It’s tasty, low in calories easy to make, economical, and most important enjoyable to eat.

Makes 2 Cups using 2 quarts yogurt

Yogurt drained of its moisture becomes very thick and creamy. Every true yogurt devotee will find it a worthwhile discovery.

A white, pillowcase like sack, gathered together at the top with string and hung over the sink to drain the yogurt, is a familiar sight in Turkish homes. Yogurt cream made this way is called literally "sack yogurt." Allowed to drain for a day or two at room tempera¬ture, the yogurt becomes creamy in texture and pleasantly sharp and tangy in flavor and can be used in many imaginative ways. Made from goat's milk yogurt, it produces a particularly delicious and tangy, soft cheese likes substance. At home, yogurt cream is mostly used to make yogurt soups and, flavored with garlic, to make sharp sauces. It's also eaten as a spread on bread. Ayran, a yogurt drink, is particularly good made with yogurt cream instead of regular yogurt.

Line a colander with 3 layers of cheesecloth. Pour the yogurt into the lined colander. Bring the ends of the cloth together to form a sack, twist the ends, and tie with a string. Hang this sack over the sink and let the yogurt drain I or 2 days. Remember, the longer it drains, the sharper or tangier it will become. Remove the yogurt from the sack and store in a covered container in the refrigerator. It keeps for days.

Throughout my years of experimenting with yogurt, I came to realize that if you drain a sweet-tasting yogurt in the refrigerator for 8 hours or longer the resulting yogurt cream is a mellow, rich-tasting and creamy substance. When sweetened it makes a perfect and healthy replacement for thick cream or sweetened cream cheese. And once drained, yogurt stays fresh much longer.

To make mellow yogurt cream, pour the yogurt into a cloth-lined colander. Place all over a bowl to catch the liquid and refrigerate for 8 hours or overnight. Remove the yogurt from the colander and store in a covered container in the refrigerator.

Yogurt, the bacteria we eat. Surprisingly though this bacteria is a very popular snack. In fact, Americans annually spend well over 100 million dollars on this milk product, and eat over 200,000,000 pounds of it each year! Are you into the yogurt habit yet? If not, here are half a dozen good reasons why you should be.

1. Yogurt is not fattening. Plain yogurt contains one third of the fat than one piece of apple pie does.
2. It can help your intestine. Doctors prescribe it to patients who suffer from ‘Intestinal Flora’ which can destroy your intestines due to it’s having a large amount of antibiotics or sulfa drugs.
3. This one may be of interest to teenagers; it can help your acne. Eat a lot of natural - preferably unsweetened - yogurt. As well as eating yogurt you can wash your face daily with water combined with lemon juice (one lemon to every liter of water). Apply a mask of honey to your face once a week, for approximately one hour, and you’ll have a pimple free face!
4. Suffer from bad breath? Well, eat a lot of yogurt and yes, you guessed it, people might actually sit next to you without holding their nos
5. Does milk give you an intestinal discomfort? Then switch to yogurt. People lose the enzyme lactase through childhood. As a result, many adults can not properly digest milk. However yogurt already has lactase in it, allowing the food to digest in the body three times quicker than milk.
6. Does osteoporosis run in your family? Or maybe you just have brittle bones and/or teeth? Well eating lots of yogurt can help to strengthen bones and teeth because yogurt is high in calcium.

Per 100 g of yogurt

	Organic Yogurt	2% Plain	10% Plain
Energy	54 Cal	58 Cal	127 Cal
Protein	4.34 g	4.84 g	3.71
Fat	2.5 g	2 g	10 g
Carbohydrates	3.56 g	4.92 g	4.16 g
Calcium	166 mg	160 mg	136 mg

Today, yogurt is enjoyed just about everywhere. With the exception of the Chinese, who prefer fermented soy products, milk-cultured yogurt is enjoyed worldwide.

In the 1970s, yogurt consumption rose in the United States by 500 percent. By the mid-1980s, Americans were spending close to $1 billion on yogurt every year. And for the fiscal year ending November 1995, the National Yogurt Association estimated yogurt sales in this country alone at around $1.38 billion.

Yogurt is as familiar as milk in the dairy cases of supermarkets everywhere. It is available fresh or frozen and in regular, low-fat, and nonfat varieties. And talk about flavors—you can now select from a bewildering array of flavors that were unthinkable not so long ago. Most people view yogurt as a wholesome, high-protein, healthy food. It is, and it isn’t. It all depends on how the yogurt is made.

The friendly bacteria used to culture true yogurt are Lactobacillus bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophilus. When these bacteria are added to milk and allowed to ferment, the resulting culture is a naturally sweet, mildly tangy, smooth, fresh-tasting custard-like treat. And, thanks to the action of the bacteria, true yogurt is almost a "predigested" food. Within an hour after eating yogurt, 90 percent of it is digested. Compare this to a glass of milk, of which only 30 percent is digested in the same amount of time. More importantly, the friendly live bacteria present in true yogurt offer health benefits, some of which are discussed in this book’s Preface. More benefits will be discussed in succeeding chapters.

Unfortunately, those colorful little cups of stuff in the supermarket don’t qualify as true yogurt. You should be aware that the commercial production of yogurt isn’t regulated. There are some loose guidelines that give a list of bacteria that are acceptable as starter organisms, but the bacteria are not ranked according to their health-promoting benefits. Many organisms will cause fermentation, but only living specific strains of L. bulgaricus and S. thermophilus provide proven health benefits. Often, the least expensive organisms are the most popular with profit-oriented producers.

Although it is frowned upon, some manufacturers still pasteurize their products after the culturing process is complete. This destroys any harmful bacteria lurking in the yogurt; however, it also kills the microorganisms used to cause the fermentation. Therefore, even if the very best bacteria have been used as culturing organisms, they will be destroyed in the pasteurization process. Only living bacteria provide proven health benefits.

If you are like most people, you probably like the sweet fruit-flavored yogurts best. They are the bestsellers. But if you think the addition of fruit adds to the healthy qualities of yogurt, you’re mistaken, for several reasons. First, the fruit that is added to most commercial yogurt is processed, not fresh. Second, the live bacteria used as a culturing agent like the sugars in fruit as much as you do; in fact, they would much rather nibble on the fruit sugar than ferment the milk. Whether the fruit is layered on the top or the bottom, or swirled throughout the yogurt, chemical additives are placed between the fruit and the cultured milk to keep the live bacteria from coming into contact with the fruit.

The manufacturer of one very popular, fruit-flavored yogurt uses a culture called Pima, which is not a lactobacillus (milk-based) culturing agent at all. What Pima produces is slime. This allows the manufacturer to skip adding a thickener to the yogurt. The end result of the Pima culture is a homogenous slimy mass that does not separate. If it was sold as plain yogurt, you’d probably spit it out. To hide the slimy texture and odd taste, the manufacturer adds a lot of processed fruit and sugar.

Unfortunately, for all of these reasons, I can’t recommend any of the commercially produced yogurts on the market today. I urge you to read labels carefully and try to make an informed choice. It’s a shame that this simple, nutrient-rich, health-promoting food has been so commercialized.

Some health food stores promote their own brand of yogurt. Unfortunately, even yogurt sold as "old fashioned" or "homemade" may not have the quality you’re looking for. This is because even your health food store suppliers shop for starter cultures in the same places commercial producers shop. It’s easier and less expensive to use manipulated bacteria that have been designed to shorten production time, rather than use truly beneficial strains of L. bulgaricus and S. thermophilus cultures. The milk will still sour, and the end result will look right and taste right, but, without the right starter culture, the healthy benefits you’re looking for will be missing.

If you won’t settle for less than the best yogurt, make your own using a starter of L. bulgaricus and S. thermophilus, which is sold in most health food stores. You’ll be surprised at how easy it is. True homemade yogurt is smooth and creamy, faintly sweet, and mildly tangy with a refreshing aftertaste. I promise you, one taste of your own homemade yogurt will convince you it is well worth the very small effort.

If you like yogurt that is sweet and fruity, add your own fresh fruit. If you like it crunchy, add some low-fat, no-sugar-added granola cereal. Health food stores offer a variety of healthy, whole grain cereals that make perfect toppings for a morning bowl of true yogurt.

Wedding Soup

This is a very old recipe from Turkey that contains Iamb, egg yolks and yogurt. All these ingredients are a traditional assurance that the marriage will prove fertile.

Serves 6

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup dried lima beans, soaked overnight and drained
• 1/2 cup dried chickpeas, soaked overnight and draine
• 1/2 cup dried black-eyed peas, soaked overnight and drained
• 1/2 cup green lentils
• 1/4 cup unsalted clarified butter divided
• 3/4 pound trimmed boneless shoulder of lamb or lamb shank, cut into 1/2 inch chunks
• 1 Spanish onion, finely diced (1/2 cup)
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 quart lamb stock
• 2 carrots, diced (3/4 cup)
• 2 celery ribs, diced (3/4 cup)
• 2 leeks, trimmed and sliced (white parts only) (3/4 cup)
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 4 egg yolks
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon ground red pepper
• 1 1/2 tablespoons paprika

Bring 1 1/2 quarts water to a boil in a medium-size saucepan over high heat. Add the lima beans, chickpeas, and black-eyed peas. Lower the heat, cover the saucepan, and simmer for 40 minutes. Add the green lentils and cook for another 20 minutes, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon, until the peas and beans are tender. Add a little more water during cooking if the water level goes below half the depth of the beans. Drain the mixture and reserve the liquid.

Heat 2 tablespoons of the butter in a heavy medium-size saucepan over medium heat. Using a wooden spoon, stir in the Iamb, onion and garlic, and cook for about 5 minutes. Add the stock, cover the saucepan, and bring the mixture to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer for about 30 minutes. Add the carrot, celery, and leeks and cook for another 10 minutes. Add the cooked beans along with 2 cups of the reserved cooking liquid. Season it with salt and pepper.

Mix the egg yolks, flour, and lemJust before serving the soup, melt the remaining butter in a small pan, and add the ground red pepper and paprika, stirring the mixture until it sizzles. Drizzle the butter mixture over each serving. Serve at once.

Zucchini with Yogurt

4 Serving

Ingredients:

• 1 pound, zucchini, coarsely grated
• Salt
• 3 to 4 tablespoons fine olive oil
• 1 1/2 cups yogurt
• 3 garlic cloves, crushed

Put zucchini in a bowl, sprinkle with salt, and let stand for 30 minutes. Squeeze with hands to press out as much liquid as possible. Heat oil in a wok or large skillet and sauté zucchini, stirring, for about 6 or 7 minutes. Cool.

Beat yogurt with garlic until smooth, season with salt. Put zucchini in a bowl, mix well with yogurt, and serve at room temperature.

Beef Strips with Yogurt

Yogurt can be substituted for sour cream in any of your favorite recipes. One cup of yogurt contains 150 calories and 8.3 grams of fat. One cup of sour cream contains 454 calories and 43.2 grams of fat!

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs. fillet of beef
• 1 1/2 lbs. mushroom
• 1 Tb. lemon juice
• 2 Tbs. butter
• 1 Tbs. oil
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
• 2 Tbs. flour
• 3/4 cup beef broth
• 1/2 cup red wine
• 1 tsp. thyme
• 1 tsp. tomato paste
• 1/2 cup yogurt
• 2 Tb. finely chopped parsley

Cut the beef into strips 2" long and 1/4" in thickness. Slice the mushrooms and sprinkle with lemon juice. Leave the mushrooms to one side.

Heat the butter and oil and sauté the beef strips, a few at a time, until lightly browned. Remove the beef and fry the onion and garlic in the same butter and oil. Stir in the flour and cook for one minute. Add the beef broth and wine. Stir in the thyme and tomato paste. Return the beef strips to the pan and simmer for four minutes until rare and tender. Stir in the yogurt but do not allow it to become too hot or it will separate. Garnish with parsley and serve.paste. Return the beef strips to the pan and simmer for four minutes until rare and tender. Stir in the yogurt but do not allow it to become too hot or it will separate. Garnish with parsley and serve.