Yogurt: The Turks' other delight

Every Turkish child who lived through the '70s and '80s at some point was given a small bowl and sent to the nearest neighbor to ask for “a few spoons of yogurt.” It was a time when people still made yogurt at home. This simple process would be one of the first “chemistry experiments” most Turkish kids performed, especially girls: add fresh warm milk to the starter culture borrowed from the neighbor, find a warm place for the mixture to rest and be patient. Today's healthy-eating craze is putting yogurt back on the table. In Turkey, this means a comeback for homemade yogurt, with new recipes being shared and a growing market for sophisticated yogurt machines.

Yogurt, rich in calcium and protein, is one “white food” that your doctor would likely recommend. Turks claim yogurt as their own, on the grounds that the name comes from the Turkish verb “yogurmak,” meaning kneading or curdling. The bacterial fermentation required allowed nomads in Central Asia to make use of milk over the course of a much longer period. Also of note, the fermentation process causes the lactose level of the milk to significantly decrease, making yogurt an alternative source of calcium for people with lactose intolerance.

Either thick or slightly watered down, a pot of yoghurt can always be found in an Anatolian kitchen. The creamy substance is made from the milk of various animals — among them water buffalo, yaks, camels, lambs and goats — but cow’s milk is the most popular version in Turkey.

Yogurt has a prominent place in Turkish rituals, particularly those involving health and well-being. If you feel dizzy on a warm day, a cold glass of salty ayran — yogurt diluted with water or kefir, a fermented milk — is supposed to perk you up. If you eat something that doesn't agree with you, you’ll be offered a bowl of plain yogurt to settle your digestive system. Yogurt has also been used for centuries to counter morning sickness and bloating and to soothe sunburn.