History of yoghurt (yogurt)

The first evidence of yoghurt being eaten dates form 2500 BC.

Certainly the first yoghurt would have been discovered accidentally, with milk being left too long in the sun or a warm place. How long it took before somebody announced that the rancid milk had become a tasty dessert is less clear...

It is probable that the climate in India, Asia and southern Europe was responsible for yoghurt being found there long before more cool climates. It has also been suggested that the nomadic Bulgars perhaps found yoghurt spontaneously produced on their goatskin bags, and brought it to Europe with them in the second century AD.

Yoghurt remained in India, Asia and southern / central Europe for the next couple of thousand years, little known to the rest of the world.

It was early in the 20th century that the suggestion arose that Bulgarian peasants owed their long and healthy lives to the substantial amounts of yoghurt they ate, which was the first step towards yoghurt conquering the world.

The second step was a business called Danone, the first commercial yoghurt producer. Started in 1919, and still a very successful company to this day (better known under the Dannon name in North America) the company successfully launched yoghurt on the world.