Strained yogurt

• 1. Introduction

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  Strained yogurt was behind most of the growth in the US$4.1 billion American yogurt industry, according to a report from 2012. It is yogurt with most of its whey drained off, so it comes out thicker but still sour. North American shoppers know it as Greek yogurt. Cooks from the Levant to Central Asia and Eastern Europe know it as labneh, chakka, süzme and a long list of other names. Why does one simple food carry so many names? What happens to the liquid that drips away? And how did a single adjective on a yogurt pot end up in front of a judge?

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• 2. Straining Then And Now

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  Cheesecloth is the humble tool behind the whole category. Milk first becomes classic yogurt, and then the liquid is drawn off through cloth or a similar method so the remainder concentrates. Even non-fat yogurt turns thicker, richer and creamier this way. The thickness has a cost, because removing whey means more milk goes into every batch and production becomes more expensive.

  In India and Pakistan, cooks make chakka by hanging yogurt in a cloth, preferably muslin, for 12-18 hours. In Albania, the yogurt hangs in a cloth sack for only a few hours or overnight, and the water that runs out is called hirrë. It can preserve cheese or be drunk. Armenian cooks traditionally drained matzoon in cloth sacks to make kamats matzoon, a version made to last a long time. Turkish speakers call the result kese yoğurdu, which means bag yogurt. In the Netherlands the name is blunter still, since hangop literally means hang up.

  Modern factories rarely work that way. Commercial producers may still legally call their product strained, but they usually do not let yogurt drip through a filter under gravity. One route concentrates the milk by ultrafiltration, removing some water before the yogurt cultures go in. The other route treats the finished yogurt with a centrifuge or a membrane filter to remove the whey. Brands such as Chobani, FAGE and Dannon Oikos have used that second route. Their process details are closely guarded trade secrets. Some other Greek-style brands, including certain store brands, instead add milk protein concentrate and thickeners to standard yogurt.

  The discarded liquid from straining is called acid whey. It holds water, yogurt cultures, protein, a slight amount of lactose and lactic acid, and it is costly to dispose of. Farmers have mixed it into animal feed and fertilizer. Anaerobic digesters can also turn it into methane, which can then produce electricity.

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• 3. Labneh And The Levant

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  Labaneh bil zayit means labaneh in oil, and a jar of it can last for over a year. It consists of small balls of dry labneh, sometimes coated in herbs or spices, kept submerged in olive oil. In Lebanon and Palestine, cooks roll the labaneh into balls for exactly this purpose. As the balls age they turn more sour. The flavor also depends on the milk, since cow's milk gives a rather mild labneh, and even the quality of the olive oil on top changes the taste. In the Middle East, producers also use milk from camels and other mammals.

  A plate of labneh spread flat, drizzled with olive oil and often scattered with dried mint, is a common breakfast dip in the Levant. It is often paired with za'atar, the mixed herb blend. Labneh is also a mezze dish and a sandwich filling. One familiar Middle Eastern sandwich combines labneh, mint, za'atar and olive on flatbread. Bedouin cooks make a dry, hard version called labaneh malboudeh. They press the strained labneh in cheesecloth and dry it until it can be stored, much like Central Asian qurut.

  In Egypt, labneh is eaten as a snack or breakfast with olives and oil, or with a sweetener such as honey. Egypt is also the origin of areesh cheese, made by heating yogurt slowly until it curdles and separates, then draining it in cheesecloth. It tastes similar to ricotta and has a protein content of 17.6%. Shanklish, a fermented cheese, is made from areesh.

  Strained yogurt is widely used in Cypriot cuisine, both as an ingredient and as a side or supplement to a dish. In Cyprus it is usually made from sheep or goat milk. Across the border of the word itself, things get confusing. In Turkish markets, labne is a different product from strained yogurt. It is an unsalted, yogurt-based creamy cheese, used the way cooks use mascarpone.

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• 4. East Of The Mediterranean

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  Qatiq is the local yogurt that cooks in Central Asia drain to make chakka or süzme. The practice belongs to the cuisines of many Iranian and Turkic peoples, including Afghan, Tajik, Tatar and Uzbek cooks. Dry the drained yogurt further and the result is qurut, a kind of dry fresh cheese.

  In Iran, strained yogurt is called mâst chekide. Cooks use it for dips or serve it as a side dish beside many meals. In Northern Iran, mâst chekide is a variety of kefir with a distinct sour taste. It is usually mixed with fresh herbs into a pesto-like purée called delal. Iranian appetizers built on strained yogurt draw on cucumbers, onions, shallots, dill, spearmint, parsley, cilantro, spinach, walnuts, zereshk and garlic. The best known are spinach or eggplant borani, mâst-o-khiâr with cucumber, spring onions and herbs, and mâst-musir with wild shallots. In Balochistan, strained yogurt goes by the name sheelanch.

  Shrikhand turns chakka into a dessert. Cooks blend it with sugar, saffron and cardamom, then mix in pureed or diced fruit and nuts. It is often eaten with poori and is particularly common in the states of Gujarat and Maharashtra. Chakka also appears in Pashtun-dominated regions of Pakistan, where it accompanies rice and meat dishes.

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• 5. Tables Of Europe

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  Greek cooks use strained yogurt mostly as the base of tzatziki dip and as a dessert. The dessert version is served with honey, sour cherry syrup or spoon sweets on top. A few savory Greek dishes also call for it. Traditionally, Greek yogurt of any kind is made from sheep's milk.

  In Bulgaria, yogurt is considered an integral part of the national cuisine. Strained yogurt there is called tsedeno kiselo mliako, and it goes into a variety of salads and dressings. In the region of Lika in Croatia, a strained variety called basa is a traditional cheese. In Serbia and North Macedonia, it is known as kiselo mleko.

  Denmark has ymer, a close relative that differs from the Greek style because only a minor amount of whey is drained off. Dutch hangop is a traditional dessert, and cooks may also make it with buttermilk. Iceland produces a similar product named skyr.

  A change came in Greece in 1975, when the company Fage International began straining cow's-milk yogurt for industrial production. It launched the brand Total.

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• 6. What Greek Means

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  Outside immigrant communities, English speakers barely knew strained yogurt before the 1980s. Then the Greek company Fage began importing Total into the United Kingdom. From that decade onward, essentially all yogurt sold in Britain as Greek was strained yogurt made in Greece.

  British rules now keep that meaning narrow. Strained yogurt can be marketed as Greek only if it is made in Greece. Cow-milk yogurt made elsewhere is typically sold as Greek style or Greek recipe, usually at a lower price. Among Greek-style yogurts, the label does not distinguish those thickened by straining from those thickened with additives. If a yogurt contains anything beyond lactic products, food enzymes and microorganism cultures, the packaging must carry a list of ingredients.

  In September 2012, Chobani UK began selling yogurt made in the United States as Greek yogurt. FAGE filed a passing-off claim against Chobani in the UK High Court. FAGE argued that British consumers read Greek as a country of origin, like Belgian beer. Chobani argued that Greek described a preparation, like French toast. Both companies relied on surveys, and FAGE also pointed to the earlier practice of British yogurt makers not labeling their products Greek. Mr Justice Briggs found in favor of FAGE and granted an injunction barring Chobani from using the name. The decision was upheld on appeal in February 2014. Greece may now seek to protect the term across the European Union under protected designation of origin rules.

  Other British labels have found other words. In May 2020, the dairy company Yeo Valley launched an organic product called Super Thick Kerned Yogurt. Kerned comes from an archaic Somerset term meaning thickened, used mainly for dairy products. In 2018, Nestlé launched Lindahls Kvarg, described as Sweden's No. 1 Quark. Quark is a high-protein strained curd cheese widely used in Swedish cooking. The company Bio-tiful launched a blend of kefir and quark with live cultures and protein. Since 2015, Arla has sold its own skyr as Icelandic style yogurt.

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• 7. The American Boom

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  In the United States, nobody owns the word Greek. There is no legal or standard definition of Greek yogurt there. Yogurt thickened with pectin, locust bean gum, starches or guar gum may also be sold under the name. Meanwhile, strained yogurt has grown more popular than unstrained yogurt in Western Europe and the United States.

  The celebrity chef Graham Kerr was an early adopter. In 1990, his cooking show frequently featured strained yogurt and showed viewers how to strain plain yogurt through a coffee filter. He had featured clarified butter just as often on The Galloping Gourmet in the late 1960s. In the United States and Canada, strained yogurt is often used as a lower-calorie substitute for sour cream or crème fraîche.

  The brands arrived in a rush. Chobani, based in New Berlin, New York, began marketing its Greek-style yogurt in 2007. In the same year, Stonyfield Farms, owned by Groupe Danone, introduced Oikos Organic Greek Yogurt. Fage had been importing its Greek products since 1998, and it opened a domestic production plant in Johnstown, New York, in 2008. Voskos entered the American market in 2009 with imported Greek yogurt at 10%, 2% and 0% milkfat. General Mills introduced a Greek-style yogurt under the Yoplait name in early 2010, and in August 2012 replaced it with Yoplait Greek 100. Danone began marketing the non-organic Dannon Oikos in 2011, followed by Dannon Light & Fit Greek nonfat in 2012. In Canada, Yoplait launched its Greek yogurt in January 2013, packaged with toppings.

  Further south, the thick yogurt jocoque seco was popularized in Mexico by local producers of Lebanese origin. By 2015, the research firm Packaged Facts reported that Greek yogurt held a 50 percent share of the American yogurt market.

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• 8. Protein, Sugar And Vitamins

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  A single international figure sets the bar for protein: the FAO standard requires yogurt to contain at least 5.6% protein if it is strained, and 2.7% if it is not. Straining removes liquid whey and lactose, so strained yogurt ends up higher in protein and lower in sugar than other yogurts. It is a good source of protein, calcium, iodine and vitamin B12. Yogurt in general holds more calcium, magnesium, potassium, phosphorus and zinc than milk does.

  The water-soluble vitamins pay for that concentration. Straining can wash away vitamin C, thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, pantothenic acid, biotin, folic acid and vitamin B12, along with vitamin A in its beta-carotene form. Strained yogurt therefore loses more vitamins than typical yogurt.

  The market offers no standard regulations to monitor the composition of concentrated yogurts. Carbohydrate, fat and protein levels in strained yogurts range from 1-12, 0-20 and 3.3-11 grams per 100 grams. Concentrated yogurts also contain more total solids than regular yogurts, which may prolong their shelf life.

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