I’m back – Chinese yoghurt experience


After a two year break, I’m back to share some yoghurt goodness with you all. Where have I been the last few years? Well…I’ve moved house, started a new job, attempted to form a gym routine, finished a Graduate Diploma in Communications (Public Relations) and met (warning…cliché moment) the love of my life.

While I haven’t blogged for the last few years, my passion for yoghurt, food and travel hasn’t wavered. I’ve still experimented with food (both failed and succeeded), eaten a lot of yoghurt and travelled.

To ease back into it, I thought it fitting that I share a... “I can’t believe I found yoghurt here” story. In September 2014 my partner, let’s call him Mr Bball (he likes basketball – go 36ers!), and I went to China for a two week holiday. If you haven’t been to China, I recommend it. Amazing food, beautiful sites, fascinating people and an amazing history.

I knew that I would find a lot of familiar foods in China – dumplings, noodles, spicy soups, stir fry’s and even beer (ask for cold beer otherwise it will be warm!). What I didn’t expect to find was yoghurt.

On our second day in China we walked for over an hour to get to the Temple of Heaven, only to exit from the wrong end with no access to public transport or taxis. Desperate and hungry, we paid an unofficial driver triple the taxi rate to take us back to the city centre. It was here that I kept seeing these little glass jars with straws outside of all these small shops. Without refrigeration, I assumed it was coconut juice or something similar. Until we were walking through ‘little Nepal’ and I found this sign.



Refrigeration or no refrigeration, I had to try it. I popped the lid with a straw, took a slurp (no spoon required) and was surprised at how familiar the taste was. While at room temperature, it still had that natural sourness, sweetness and creaminess – it was just thinner than your traditional yoghurt.

It was at this moment that I knew I could find yoghurt anywhere and I wanted to re-start this blog. The same deal applies, challenge me to combine yoghurt with an edible item and I will share the results. I will also share some yoghurt recipes with you and hope to hear your feedback if you give them a try. Spoiler alert…my next blog will feature a recipe with garlicky yoghurt goodness.

My farewell fun yoghurt fact – Beijing yoghurt is called “old yoghurt” because it is fermented using an old production process, whereby the yoghurt is pot set and sealed before the fermenting process.*
* http://asiansupper.com/theslurp/beijing-yogurt-old-chinese-yogurt

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