It happened in very ancient times, at the fringes of the Balkanic peninsula and of Turkey that one started to find the first trace of the yoghurt in the local population food.
In France, we had to wait until the reign of François 1st (1515-1547) to see yoghurts for the first time.
the king was suffering from chronic intestinal disorder and he found a jewish doctor settled in Constantinople and specialised into the wonderful cure success of such problems.
He came to the French royal court and gave, during a few weeks, to the king, daily treatments composed of fermented ewe milk dairy stuff.
The king was cured and the doctor went back home, covered with gold, with his secrets and without anyone knowing what and how. Thereafter, the yoghurt disappeared for a long time ...
In 1901, Metchnikoff, the Russian scientist, was making research, at the Paris Institute, on the aging of the European population.
He then discovered that the longevity of the Bulgarian people was far greater than average. He made research about the reason for it and he discovered that the poor were feeding themselves almost only with fermented dairy foodstuff called 'yoghurts'.
He ordered a few liters of it and conducted chimical analysis.
He started to isolate the fist bacteria : the ferment bringing acidity he called 'Bulgarius Lactobacillus'.
He then isolated a second bacteria responsible for the pitching of the milk ('Streptococcus Thermopilus'). He also discovered that this bacteria was also bringing taste.
One started then to make yoghurt but it was only a kind of a medecine to cure diarrhea. Moreover, when the French army came back from the Salonic campaign with very serious instestinal problems, the official doctors cured the sick soldiers with yoghurts.
The excellent results of it came into the ears of a young Spanish entrepreneur who, taking the benefit, during the Roaring Twenties, of the new strong interest of the European women for keeping a thin profile, decided to launch the 'yoghurt fashion'.
All the most pretty women, in Europe, grabbed those small yoghurt pots to get a thin profile.
This Spanish entrepreneur, called Carasso, built a small factory unit in Barcelona and achieved a real commercial success.
His son Daniel, forecasting an even greater need of the market, decided then to cross the French-Spanish border and settled a bigger factory in France.
He was right to do it : even today, the brand name still resounds all over the word : DANONE.
And now that we know a little bit more about the history of the yoghurt, a few recipes using it for the pleasure of our taste :
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Home made yoghurts
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Balkanese cucumber 'baskets'
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Balkanese sauce
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Glasses of yoghurt and coconut
