Since The Salt is exploring yogurt extensively this week, let’s take a moment to go back in time to 10,000 BC, when it all started.
Humans relied on hunting and gathering for food during the Paleolithic, or “Old Stone Age,” and as a result, they led nomadic lives. Around 10,000 BC, the “New Stone Age” began, marking the beginning of human domestication of plants and animals in what is now the Middle East.
This radical change marked the beginning of the wide-ranging dairy aisle that exists today. And it’s fair to say that yogurt (and cheese, too) played a part in sustaining the civilizations we’ve built over time.
Sheep and goats were domesticated about one thousand years after plants, primarily grains like wheat. Although humans discovered that their meat was delectable, sheep and goats were raised primarily for their incredibly nourishing milk (and their wool). Cows weren’t domesticated until around the fourth millennium BC.
The only issue with milk as a new food source was that many people had difficulty digesting it. A digestive enzyme called lactase is present in humans at birth. However, lactase disappears in many human populations after breastfeeding, a condition known as lactose intolerance. The prevalence of lactose intolerance is still present in about 65 percent of people worldwide, and in some regions it can reach 90 percent.
But the beauty of yogurt is that a significant portion of the lactose is converted into lactic acid, which the body can digest more readily. Many people were able to consume the calories, fats, and proteins that dairy provides thanks to the development of fermented dairy products, including cheese.
Professor of evolutionary genetics Mark Thomas at University College London has investigated how lactose tolerance spread among prehistoric populations. He asserts his conviction that “adult consumption of dairy products was most likely limited to fermented products,” such as yogurt, because the capacity to digest milk wasn’t widely possessed in the early days of dairy.
It’s still a mystery how people discovered that allowing milk to ferment turned it into tangy, creamy, digestible yogurt. It’s safest to assume that everything happened by accident. Microorganisms, like bacteria, are everywhere in the environment. Some can turn milk into yogurt, some are good, and some are bad. Due to the domestication of grains, early sedentary societies had a lot of experience with fermentation; this is the same process that causes beer to become alcoholic and bread to rise.
Utilization of fermented dairy products followed the Neolithic practice of using animals for milk. If you milked a cow in the morning, Thomas observes, By noon, it would have begun to ferment into yogurt in the Near East. “.
The most likely scenario for how our Neolithic ancestors discovered yogurt is that raw milk was exposed to a wild bacterial strain at some point, which produced a thick, creamy product after it was allowed to sit in a warm environment. Being the inquisitive species that we are, humans tried it and liked it. More importantly, we discovered that it could be preserved longer than raw milk without going bad and that many people could eat it.
As a result, yogurt served as a catalyst for the development of societies. The Near Eastern populations that had recently become sedentary were able to gradually grow in size because more people could digest this dependable and calorie-dense source of nutrition. These yogurt-eating, newly sedentary people would later develop the world’s first urban civilizations.
To be clear, many other foods contributed to the growth of civilization. But yogurt was one of the factors that allowed Neolithic peoples to significantly advance human society.
Despite appearing to be ancient, the first clear mention of yogurt is found in a dictionary of Turkic languages from the 11th century AD. Actually, the word “yogurt” is Turkish, which identifies the country that brought it to Europe and the English-speaking world.
Yogurt’s popularity has persisted in the Middle East and Central Asia close to its birthplace. According to Euromonitor, Turkey is currently one of the top yogurt-consuming nations, consuming 282 cups per person annually. (Compare that with the U. S. : We consume just 62 cups per person per year. It eventually moved east, where it established itself in the cuisines of India and its neighbors.
Yogurt was not a staple of the diet in Europe for the majority of its history, with the exception of the nations closest to Turkey, and only started to become more popular at the end of the 19th century. In the U. S. Before Dannon began producing yogurt in the Bronx in the latter half of the 20th century, yogurt was largely unknown.
Archaeologist Adam Maskevich has performed extensive work throughout the Middle East. Additionally, he has imparted knowledge on ancient food and cooking history as well as the politics of archaeology. His last post for The Salt was about cumin.
Yogurt is also regulated in most countries. Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. must be legally present in every type of yogurt sold in Canada. bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophiles bacteria. Additionally, when it is marketed, it must contain at least 10 million bacteria per gram. Other bacteria may also be added (such as L. acidophilus-B. bifidum).
Soon, yogurt could be bought at pharmacies. This was a full-circle journey from when it was prescribed to King François I of France (1542) as treatment for persistent digestive problems.
In other countries you might see it spelled ‘yogourt’, ‘yoghourt’, or further variations. The name for this versatile product is believed to go way back to the Turkish word ‘yoğurmak’, which means to knead, thicken, coagulate, or curdle. And the root word ‘yog’ means ‘to intensify’–pretty fitting for the fermentation process!
Yogurt can be consumed in a variety of ways, including as a breakfast staple, a snack, a cooking substitute, or the base for scrumptious drinks.
You’ve probably discovered the hard way from a spell checker at some point that Canadian English contains a large collection of words spelled the same as U K. English and U. S. English. In the case of yogurt, it’s the American version; it’s almost always spelled “yogurt” (or “yogourt” in Canadian French) throughout North America. But in the U. K. , Australia, and New Zealand, it’s usually ‘yoghurt’.
There is proof that in many ancient Asian civilizations, yogurt was a part of their diet. Fans included Genghis Khan and his Mongol army, who frequently enjoyed the creamy treat that was said to give them strength and stamina in battle. It is even rumored that the Indian emperor Akbar liked to spice up his yogurt with cinnamon and mustard seeds. (I cant imagine that flavor getting a lot of supermarket sales.)
There are many foods around the world that embrace unsweetened yogurt in their recipes, including chicken korma, a delicious Indian dish. If you want to prepare something a little less ambitious, try Greek tzatziki (a delicious sauce), refreshing Turkish ayran (a yogurt drink), or Lebanese labneh (a thick cheese-like yogurt).
Yogurt is a delicious dairy product that is simple to take for granted, but it has a rich history dating back long before the convenience of commercial yogurt. Discover its surprising history in ancient civilizations and how it became mass-produced by reading on.
It is also notable that ancient Greeks consumed oxygala, a distant ancestor of yogurt that was made out of sour milk and sweetened with honey. That sounds a bit more appealing, doesnt it?
You probably don’t give purchasing yogurt at the store much thought. You just grab it and go, whether you prefer to try new varieties every week or you have a favorite brand.
Yogurt is an ancient food. Yogurt’s earliest remains were discovered in Mesopotamia more than 7000 years ago. It is found by accident. What do I mean by “by accident”? Back then, people would use animal stomachs as bags to store their liquids. By chance, the weather was warm and ideal for making yogurt. As a result, they noticed that after a while, milk turned into yogurt. Wild enzymes in the stomach ferment the sugar lactose to produce lactic acid; how is this even possible? Lactic acid makes milk more acidic and it causes coagulation. Coagulated proteins thicken the milk and give a creamy texture. Lactic acid is the source of yogurt’s tart and sour flavor. This is the intriguing tale of the yogurt that has long been a part of our lives.
Yogurt is basically fermented milk. Milk’s structure is altered by fermenting bacteria, which also give it a thick, sour flavor. You need a starter to ferment the milk if you want to make yogurt at home. A starter can be a little yogurt or starter culture. We’ll discuss the history of yogurt and discuss how the first batch of yogurt was created without any starters.
The yogurt and honey concoction is referred to in ancient Indian sources as “The Food of Gods.” According to Persian mythology, Abraham’s fertility and longevity were due to the regular digestion of yogurt. “Those examples demonstrate that yogurt has been well-liked for a very long time. Yogurt’s benefits to your body cannot be underestimated. Yogurt is introduced to Europe for the first time in French clinical history. Francis I experienced diarrhea for which there was no medical treatment. His ally Suleiman the Magnificent dispatched a team of medical professionals, who used yogurt to treat him. Being grateful,Francis I spread the yogurt to Europe. On this clinical occasion, Europeans met with yogurt. Etymologically, the word is derived from Turkish; yoğurt. The sound of ğ was traditionally rendered as “gh”. The word is from Nomadic Turks. Yogurt’s definition and application are included in “Divan- Lügati’t Türk,” a Turkish dictionary written by Mahmud Kashgari in the eleventh century. It doesn’t imply, however, that Europeans had never encountered a thick form of milk. A type of fermented milk called oxygala (), which is similar to yogurt, was used in ancient Greek cuisine. Similar to how Greek yogurt is consumed today, oxygala was once eaten with honey. Turks and Greeks continue to argue over who discovered the yogurt. Yogurt; as a culture; has spread over a wide area. Although it is unclear who discovered yogurt, it is clear that the word is Turkish.