Yogurts of the world
Ethnic yogurts are smooth, tangy, and sometimes thick enough to cut with a knife.
from the June 11, 2008 edition
Page 2 of 3
Smoothielike lassi, served in Indian restaurants worldwide, is yogurt blended with fruits. In villages, a similar welcome beverage of beaten yogurt is stored in cool earthenware pots.
Curd rice, a soothing mixture of rice and creamy yogurt, is like a blessing in the fiercely hot summers of south India. Piquant regional specialties call for sour curds, but originally these dishes were probably just innovations to use up yogurt that had been left on the tropical kitchen counter too long.
Some South Asian immigrants prefer to make yogurt at home. Indira Singari, a Seattle food blogger, boils milk, cools it, and adds a spoonful of culture to make her own. "But honestly, I am not able to re-create the Indian curd taste with American milk," says Ms. Singari. Part of the reason, she adds, is the fact that the cattle in India are raised on a different diet. However, a commercial brand, Desi Natural Dahi – made by a dairy farm on the East Coast – is available in Indian grocery stores.
Crossover yogurts
Northern Europe has many fermented milk products, but technically they are not yogurts. "They involve very different microbes," says Dr. Fankhauser. The case is the same with kefir, a fermented drink, ubiquitous in many countries that were part of the former Soviet Union. Iceland, however, has a low-fat strained yogurt, skyr, that is now marketed by Whole Foods.
Greek yogurt or giaurti is a good example of a crossover yogurt. "There are few things which taste so good that are actually good for you," says Ann Graham Nichols, a food blogger from East Lansing, Mich., who is enraptured by the taste of this chunky yogurt.
Aspasia Daskalopoulou, a native of Greece who now lives in New England, eats this strained yogurt like a dessert or a snack, layered with honey and almonds or pecans.
As more people look to avoid sugary foods, ethnic yogurts could step up to the plate. Some do take getting used to because they are not overly sweetened as their American counterparts are. "But American palates are becoming more and more aware of the benefits of just plain old yogurt," says Dr. Christie.
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