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Two jars of yogurt in one suitcase
The suitcase
He did not expect to find the same quality or taste of yogurt in America, and a culture can make yogurt forever. He came from Plovdiv, Bulgaria's second-largest city, and the starter went with him next to his clothes.
The American yogurt aisle horrified him. Yogurt, to him, has to be plain, and if he wants a dessert he will go buy a tiramisu. He kept making his own at home until a friend told him his yogurt was good and asked why he did not start a business.
Starting a business
He knew nothing about the yogurt business, but he started Trimona Yogurt, named after the old Roman name for his hometown. Selling to other Bulgarians went nowhere, since so many of them already made yogurt at home, so he sold small amounts to local health food stores.
Going commercial meant giving up the culture from home. Making yogurt at scale takes a culture supply company, which ships a blend of bacteria as little frozen pellets. Bulgarian yogurt tends to have a higher proportion of Lactobacillus bulgaricus, and after a lot of back and forth he landed on a recipe that tasted just like home.
Why can a starter culture last forever?
Cooks have long kept a culture going by saving a spoonful of finished yogurt to start the next batch, a practice called backslopping. The bacteria multiply in each new batch of milk, so the culture renews itself. Over many generations the mix of strains can drift, and stray microbes can creep in. Home cultures kept this way have been passed down in families for generations.
Why are commercial cultures frozen into pellets?
Freezing at very low temperatures keeps the bacterial cells alive but dormant. Small pellets can be dropped straight into a vat of milk, with no need to grow the culture first. Makers call this direct vat set. Each pellet carries a measured dose of cells, so batches come out consistent.
Why was Plovdiv called Trimontium?
The Romans named the city Trimontium, meaning three hills, because the settlement spread across rises in the Thracian plain. Before the Romans it was the Thracian town of Eumolpias, and then Philippopolis after Philip II of Macedon took it in 342 BC. Plovdiv is counted among the oldest continuously inhabited cities in Europe.
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