Yogurt is loved by adults and children. It helps quench thirst and a little hunger. The benefit of yogurt for a person is a recognized fact, which does not require additional comments. Doctors say that even the most irregular use of yogurt significantly prolongs life. Hundreds of companies all over the world produce thousands of varieties of it.
The word "yogurt" means "condensed". Scythians and their nomadic peoples have long carried milk in wines on the backs of horses and donkeys. Bacteria got from the air and wool into the product, fermentation occurred in the heat, and constant shaking completed the job, turning the milk into a thick acidic drink, which did not spoil for a long time and at the same time preserved all the useful properties.
- It was first reported by Pliny the Elder, who wrote in his Natural History: "The Scythians know how to condense milk, turning it into an acidic and delicious drink. This drink was diluted with water for drinking, and dried for food, getting something like cottage cheese.
- According to another version, the first to make a product resembling yogurt was the ancient Thracians. They bred sheep and noticed that the sour milk stayed fresh longer than the fresh milk and mixed it with the leaven from the sour milk, thus getting the first yogurt.
- According to the third version, the first was the ancient Bulgars. At first, they made a koumiss drink out of horse milk. Later, when they settled on the Balkan Peninsula and created the First Bulgarian Kingdom, they began to breed sheep and make yogurt out of sheep's milk.
Yogurt is mentioned around 6000 B.C. when the peoples who settled in present-day India filtered milk through the coarse winding fabric and made it into an extremely tasty and healthy product. Of course, it wasn't called "yogurt", but differently, but its taste and usefulness were almost the same.
However, there are also records that Abraham Abraham, patriarch of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, loved yogurt. And in Ancient Greece and Rome yogurt was an indispensable attribute of a refined feast.
In general, the popularization of yogurt contributed greatly to the next case - in 1510, the king of France Francois I was terminally ill. The court doctor, a native of Turkey, has tried all the known methods of treatment, but to no avail. The king recovered only after he began to eat yogurt regularly. The king's court even kept a special herd of goats at his disposal to keep fresh milk at hand.
Modern yogurt, as we are accustomed to seeing it now, was born in the Balkan Peninsula, where the unique cultures of Bulgarian bacillus and thermophilic streptococcus were highlighted. The microflora of Bulgarian yogurt was first studied by Bulgarian medical student Stamen Grigorov at the Department of Professor Massola at the University of Geneva. In 1905 he described it as consisting of one bacillus and one spherical lactic acid bacterium.
In 1907, the bacillus bacteria was named Lactobacillus bulgaricus in honor of Bulgaria, where it was first discovered and used, and the spherical one - Streptococcus thermophilus. I.I. Mechnikov was the first to appreciate the significance of the discovery made by Grigorov, and as director of the Pasteur Institute, he invited him to Paris to give a lecture on his discovery to all leading microbiologists of the time.
Investigating the issues of aging, and collecting data on 36 countries, Mechnikov found that the largest number of "centrifuges" - in Bulgaria - 4 per 1000 people. As he was studying intestinal flora, he linked it to Bulgarian yogurt (in Bulgaria it is also called kiselo glucose - "sour milk").
In his works, he began to present the usefulness of Bulgarian yogurt to the general public. Until the end of his life (died of a myocardial infarction at the age of 71), Mechnikov daily consumed not only milk products but even pure cultures of Bulgarian bacillus.
In the world, yogurt has become popular thanks to Danone Yogurt. The founder of Danone, Isaac Carasso, developed the yogurt trade in Europe in the 30s. And in 1942, "Danone" began production of yogurt in the U.S. in New York City, and it is from this date and the history of the company, which celebrated its 70th anniversary in 2012 and became for many a symbol of high-quality and delicious yogurt.
On the issue of the origin of the word "yogurt", heated debates are still ongoing. Some claim that the word "yogurt" comes from the word "yoga", and it was yogis that invented the product and served as their main food. Others claimed that Yoko Ono cooked yogurt for her beloved husband and singer for her birthday.
Every nation has its name for yogurt - Tatars, Bashkirs, Uzbeks, Turkmens, Azerbaijanis call it a katyk and gatyk, Armenians - Matsun, Egyptians - a swan, Sicilians - a mezorad. A similar name, mazoni, exists in the Georgian language.
Unfortunately, as they say in the advertisement, not all yogurts are equally useful. Only yogurts with live bacterial culture are useful. Bacteria can only be of two species - Lactobacillus bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophilus. Other microorganisms, of course, turn milk into yogurt, but they die after that. And pasteurized yogurt is useless at all.
Yogurt is primarily a great source of calcium, which is especially important for those who do not like milk. Regular consumption of this product helps to improve digestion and metabolism.
Yogurt helps to eliminate hangover syndrome. Wake up after a long party and eat a glass of any pink yogurt. Headache will pass, nausea will miraculously disappear and dry mouth will disappear.
Components and enzymes contained in yogurt remove harmful substances and toxins from the body and increase resistance to infections. Japanese scientists have proven that yogurt can easily treat mild cases of radiation exposure. Their experiments were continued by German scientists, who found that the daily use of yogurt prevents the formation of cancer cells in the body.
Yogurt will help you to avoid sunburn and make your hair soft and manageable. And as a mask it is unique in general - the skin is instantly smoothed out and becomes fresh and supple.
Nowadays, almost any milk product is called "yogurt". All of them, as a rule, are pleasant to taste, contain various flavor and aromatic additives, wonderfully and colorfully packaged. And all of them, without exception, as the manufacturers claim, is useful for our intestines. Real yogurt is a live product that is made with the use of yeast prepared based on lactic acid organisms "Bulgarian Sticks" and thermophilic streptococcus.
Only such yogurt is a dietetic, easily digestible product containing vitamins - C, B1, and B12. It stops rotten processes in the intestines, increases the body's resistance to infections. Yogurt is used in the treatment of gastrointestinal diseases, colitis, cholecystitis, tuberculosis, furunculosis, children's breast asthma.