Claudia: When it comes to
Greek yogurt, we may think that the authentic version
is made of cow's milk and is strained of its own liquid to reach the perfect thick
and creamy consistency. Well, none of this is actually true. Real Greek yogurt, of the
kind made not in factories but in villages, like here,
in Flokas near Olympia, has never been strained
and probably never will. Here, yogurt is made with
full-fat sheep's milk. This rich milk, together
with a combination of time and temperatures,
is going to give us a yogurt that is already tart and
creamy in its own pot, without the need to be strained at all. It all starts with that
fresh sheep's milk. Antonis: Drink some of it.
Claudia: Smells strong, huh? Yes. Wow, yeah, there's a lot of fat there. It's thick.
Antonis: Yeah. Claudia: It has a little bit of tanginess. Like you said, it's not sweet. It's a bit acid.
Antonis: Yes, yes, yes. Claudia: Yogurt at Antonis' dairy starts with one-day-old cold milk. His technician, Thanasis, heats
it up to 90 degrees Celsius, waits one hour, and then
transfers it into small pots. Although it looks simple,
gauging your strength with this pump is actually very difficult. Oh, it's warm, huh?
Antonis: Yeah. In here. Claudia: Like that?
Antonis: Good, press it. Slowly. Claudia: It's super complicated because it's very, very sensitive, and it's also super warm. Antonis: It's not too complicated, but it has small secrets. Claudia: Yeah. Antonis: As every job, as with anything. Claudia: What is the difference between putting yogurt in a plastic one versus this bowl?
Antonis: No, no, no. It's not, you know, it's the same yogurt. It has to do with the look. Claudia: With the tradition. Yes. It looks more traditional. Claudia: If you look
carefully, you will notice that Thanasis is not filling
the pots to the brim. He is leaving a little room for what Antonis calls the powder. It's made of old, broken yogurt that is 20 or even 30 days old mixed with some fresh milk. It's added to ferment the
yogurt, a bit like sourdough. Thanasis uses an even smaller
pump to add the powder. And yes, the smaller pump is even harder to use than the previous one. Thanasis has to put only
5 milligrams in every pot, so I won't even try using it this time. He adds the powder from
the side of the pot to preserve the crust on the top. Antonis: The way that Thanasis use is the same way that my
mother, my wife's mother was making the yogurt 50 years ago. This is the authentic yogurt. Claudia: So, yeah, actually you can see it already formed a little bit of a film, even though it's been here
only for, like, 10 minutes. Antonis: Now we'll close the door, and we turn on the heat from 45 to 50 degrees. And we are going to let
it, for three hours. Claudia: When the doors are opened three hours later, a crust is formed on the
surface of the yogurt. That is the butterfat present in the milk, whereas the liquid whey
now sits at the bottom. Antonis: It's ready. How
strong we want for the time. Claudia: Every yogurt is different. Not all pots turn into yogurt. In this one here, the powder didn't work. As Antonis moves the
pots out of the fridge, he has to be careful not
to move them too much, because the liquid whey
from the bottom of the pot can surface and spoil the yogurt. The only one that can
handle a bit of wiggling for the camera is this 17-kilo tub that Antonis will turn into tzatziki. Although at this step it is important that the butterfat at the top and the liquid whey at
the bottom stay separate, that doesn't mean that the liquid whey needs to be strained and taken away. The whey is sour, and
the butterfat is sweet. As the yogurt keeps
fermenting at room temperature in its pot, the two will slowly combine. Antonis: We open the
window, we open the door, and all this fresh air works
like a natural air condition. Claudia: Oh, all right. The temperature goes down naturally. Believe me, this is something that not many people can see. OK. Claudia: Yeah, because
you normally have a yogurt from the fridge. Antonis: You see it as we move it. It's not moved very easy. It's strong. Claudia: Yeah. So, what does fresh,
warm yogurt taste like? Mm. Antonis: It's almost like baby cream. Claudia: Nice, yeah. It's not a feeling on your
mouth that you're used to. Because it's warm cream, and we're not used to eating warm cream. Antonis: You see, you see the juices? Claudia: So this is the whey, the liquid whey in the milk. And this is the one that
normally is taken away, you know, when you make strained milk. A small 200-gram pot of
Antonis' sheep's milk yogurt contains 6% fat and 6% protein, both of which sometimes
rise as high as 8%, depending on the weather
and what the sheep forage. This percentages of fat
and protein are double what cow's milk yogurt is made
of and can only be matched by straining out the whey in cow's milk to increase the volume of butterfat. Straining means you need more milk, so more fat, to have the
same volume of yogurt. Today's batch of milk gave
Antonis 280 pots of yogurt. After resting at room
temperature for one hour, they will have a 15-day shelf life if stored in the fridge. Antonis: We had the milk. You see? Claudia: Ooh! Antonis: This is the final product. Claudia: When the yogurt is cold, the taste of the crust on top and the creamy part below
it will be different. Antonis: This is real. All the butter. Claudia: And it's very tart, as well. Like, it's not sweet at all. And this is really -- Antonis: You understand the difference? Claudia: Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure. And this is this kind of milk compared to cow's milk
or, like, strained yogurt. This is much more tart.
Antonis: Eat the inside. Mm. Wow, it has a completely
different taste, huh? Antonis: You see it.
Claudia: Yeah, yeah, yeah. This is a little bit
sweet, but not sugary. To add an extra layer of sweetness, Antonis lets me try the yogurt topped with some grape
jam made by his mother. We also tried it spread on bread. Mm. You know what the doctors say? It's a full dinner. Yeah, I'm going to send
some pictures to my doctor. Bread and yogurt. We take the milk, any kind
of milk they will give us. That's why sometimes the yogurt is stronger, fatter, more proteins. This is what mother nature give to us. We have to work with this, and we will make the product. Claudia: With whatever you have, yeah. And we will see if it's strong or not.
