MADZOON (մածուն) [YOGURT]: The Recipe

My father was intrigued by the fact that the first vendors of yogurt in this country, (remember Colombo Yogurt?), Armenian genocide survivors from Turkey, used the word yogurt (Turkish) rather than madzoon (Armenian). They thought that in order for the product to be saleable they should label it with the name by which it was generally known in Turkey, not realizing that they could as easily have made the product popular by its Armenian name Madzoon (մածուն), which is what we grew up calling this wonderfully healthy and delicious milk product from the Middle East.  In fact, when I just went to google for the English to Armenian translation, I typed in Madzoon (on the English side) and got no response from Google, but when I typed in yogurt on the English side, up came the word մածուն (Madzoon) in Armenian!  Go figure!  And here's how you, too, can make Armenian Madzoon (մածուն). (See yesterday's post for the full story.)  

This morning I tasted my madzoon, and oh, it is so sweet!  Sweet, you may ask . . . yes, sweet, the way my mother used to make it.  In fact, I remember telling my 4th grade friend that she had to try it because it tasted a lot like ice cream!  Well, that was a mistaken analogy for the poor child!  But this madzoon is sweet -- I'm so happy.  Want to try to make it yourself?  Here's how.

Slowly bring 1 quart of milk to a slow boil (simmer), stirring constantly; some of the old folks used to simmer the milk for a very long time so that the milk would boil down and make a thicker madzoon. [In fact, my mother-in-law would use unpasteurized milk if she could get it from the local farmers; she insisted it made a better madzoon.]  Set out a heavy crockery bowl or a pyrex bowl.  Place a quarter of a cup of magart (I use whole milk yogurt from Dannon, or Whole Foods, or Karoun) into a 2 cup container and stir until smooth.  Set aside.  When the 1 quart of milk has come to a slow boil, simmer for a few minutes longer, stirring constantly; then turn off the heat and let cool until slightly warmer than lukewarm. Now you are ready to add the starter to the milk. While stirring the magart (the 4 tbsps. of madzoon), slowly add about a cup of the cooled milk, stirring constantly. Set that mixture aside. Now pour the quart of heated, now cooled down to lukewarm milk from the pan on the stove into a pyrex bowl, and slowly add the milk and magart mixture to the pyrex bowl, stirring constantly, making sure that you do not stir into the mixture the skin of cream that will form on the top of the milk. (Some folks carefully move aside the skin and add and stir the magart mixture UNDER the skin that has formed over the top, or they simply remove the skin that settles on top of the boiled milk.)  

Cover the top of the bowl with a plate and wrap the bowl completely with multiple layers of thickly piled terry towels; set in a draft free warm spot.  OR place the covered bowl in an oven that has been preheated for about 3 minutes, turn the heat off, set the bowl carefully in the middle of the oven, cover with a plate, close the oven door and do not disturb or open the oven for 8 hours or more.  Best to leave the madzoon to set overnight.  Next day, remove the bowl of madzoon which will have set, and place in the refrigerator, ready to eat that night. Once you get the knack, you will never again have to use your 'yogurt' maker, because you will be a madzoon maker par excellance!