I remember being a pre-teen and hearing about yogurt for the first time (believe it or not there was a time in the US when yogurt was virtually unknown to the masses--if it was know at all it was the province of "health nuts and hippies"). It made no sense to me--people eating sour curdled milk--on purpose. My initial reaction was "why?". However, it didn't take me long to acquire a taste for it and I was hooked. I've been enjoying it regularly ever since.
Yogurt is a very old food. It's actual origins are lost to history but it seems to have first appeared around 2,000 BC. There are many written records of it's use in both India and Persia around 500 BC. The Persians, in fact, attributed Abraham's fecundity and longevity to his frequent consumption of yogurt. Yogurt is considered a health food because it is high in protein, low in fat, and filled with calcium, riboflavin, B6, and B12. People who are lactose intolerant can often eat yogurt because the lactose is converted to glucose and galactose by the bacteria in the yogurt cultures.
American's have traditionally consumed yogurt as a sweetened custard-like snack but it has historically been used in many other ways around the world (e.g. savory sauces, dips, and in cooking). There are many varieties of yogurt made from all types of milk including cow, goat, sheep, yak, water-buffalo, and even nut milks (e.g. almond, coconut etc.). Another increasingly popular technique is strained yogurt often called "Greek yogurt". Straining the whey off yogurt to thicken it has been done for thousands of years to produce thicker yogurt or yogurt "cheese" (similar to cream cheese).
Yogurt is easy and inexpensive to make at home and you get to control what goes into it (i.e. no fillers, stabilizers, preservatives etc.). I like making mine with powdered milk. That makes it cheaper, non-fat, higher protein, and enables me to concentrate the milk so the yogurt is thicker without having to add starches.
Here's how you make yogurt:
Start with two cups of powdered milk and two quarts of water. I like to blend up the milk with just two of the cups of water so it's more of a paste and less foamy, and then stir in the rest of the water. Finally stir in one cup of store-bought yogurt. Plain yogurt is best but I have used sweetened vanilla yogurt with no trouble. Heat your oven for two minutes and then turn it OFF. Place your container in the oven. Leave the light on if possible to maintain a heat source. Leave this there until the yogurt is set (we call it "thick as a brick" and you'll be able to tell because when you tip the container the yogurt comes away from the side in one mass--see photo to the left) which usually takes about 8 hours. I like to set mine overnight. If it's still kind of liquidy when you check on it then take it out of the oven, reheat it for another two minutes, turn it OFF, and put the container back in for a few more hours until it's well set.
When it's done put it in the fridge to chill. I usually mix about half of it with some sweetener and chopped up bottled fruit or jam to eat right away. In our family we eat that over warm cornbread (don't laugh until you try it). The other half I usually strain to make Greek Yogurt which I use in cooking, for sauces etc. I use something called a yogurt funnel to strain mine (it is lined with a fine mesh that channels and drains off the whey). Unfortunately those are no longer available, but you can strain off the whey the traditional way by hanging it a cheese-cloth or muslin bag (or one made of 100% cotton T-shirt like I recommended in my soy milk recipe), hanging it in a cool place and letting the whey drip into a pan or bowl. A coffee filter in a collander works well, and there are commercial strainers on the market as well. You'll need to let the whey drip out for several hours. Don't throw the whey away when your done. It's nutritious and can be substituted for the liquid in soups, bread recipes etc.
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