Yogurt
or Yoghurt, or Yoghourt....
Yogurt is a dairy product produced by fermenting milk with an equal mixture of two bacteria, Streptococcus thermophilus and Lactobacillus bulgaricus, which change the lactose sugars in the milk into lactic acid.
This conversion of sugar to acid gives yogurt its distinctive 'tang', which can vary in intensity from barely noticeable to positively sour depending on the methods used to make it and the amount of sugar added afterwards.
Like many foods we now enjoy simply for their taste, yogurt was originally made to prolong the life of a perishable ingredient - in this case milk.
It can be used in both savoury and sweet dishes as an ingredient, although when using it in cooking care needs to be taken to avoid curdling.
The word yogurt can also be spelled as yoghurt or even yoghourt - all three spellings are correct.
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