Chronosynclastic Infundibulum

Ever wonder how to make yogurt from scratch? All the recipes I could find online and from my parents and relatives involves already having some yogurt in the first place! A typical recipe goes something like this:

1. Boil milk.
2. Cool it to about 110F (40C).
3. Add yogurt starter or culture.
4. Wait overnight.

But this does not answer the question: how was the first yogurt made? Was it an accidental fermenting of milk with just the right bacteria without contamination? It seems strange that if all yogurt and bacterial cultures in the world were destroyed, then we would have to rely on happenstance to be able to make yogurt again!

So where did the first yogurt come from? Sounds like a chicken-or-egg problem doesn’t it? Hey, if the chicken-or-egg problem can be solved (the chicken came first), then we have got to be able to figure this yogurt problem out! So I set out scouring the interwebs and found two possible ways to make yogurt from scratch.

The first method (vegetarians beware) is from ants. Yes, ANTS! This method is used in Turkey (which is where the word “yogurt” comes from, BTW). The recipe is deceptively simple. Just add crushed ant eggs or soil from ant hill to boiled milk at about 40C temperature. Overnight or so, the milk curdles. With lumps of this milk curd can then be used as a starter to make yogurt. I found this on these two Turkish webpages: ekoses.com [English translation], and AnnemMutfakta.tv [English translation].

The second method involves adding a little bit of tamarind and a dried red chili to a small amount of warm milk. The milk should curdle overnight. Use a little of that curd as a starter to make a little more curdled milk, and repeat the process 4-5 times or until the curdled milk begins to look, smell, and taste like yogurt. The final batch of cudled milk can then be used to make yogurt. [source (anecdotal)]

So there you have it! Next time you are having your yogurt, remember, you could be eating crushed ant eggs :) Bon Apetite!