As a kid, I remember well the earthenware containers in which the yogurt came in, complete with a neat contraption to seal the jar tightly, easy to use, and once you finished the product, it was washed and brought back to the grocer, who would exchange it for a new one, just like milk bottles. The yogurt itself was divine and only came in one flavor: plain, sugar-free and unalloyed with any kind of additives or flavorings. In other word, the real thing. 
Ours was made in Bulgaria, out of places, I guess it was trucked in once a week and did not last very long on the refrigerated shelves as it was snapped up pretty quick. Nowadays, of course, we have such a choice, it’s hard to make up one’s mind though in my case, I still go for the plain stuff or the Greek style (mixed with finely minced garlic, cracked pepper and a pinch of finely chopped mint leaves, it is divine when eating a hot dish like curry or a spicy brochette…)
Note: I can’t find any pics of that particular container, but I think you know what I mean…
Fermentation of yoghurt is one of the oldest methods practiced by human beings in order to transform milk into products. There is evidence of cultured milk products being produced as food for at least 4,500 years. The exact origin of making fermented milk could be date from some 10000 – 15000 years ago. It might dates back to pre-Biblical times, and Moses reputedly partook of it on his way to promised Land. The earliest yogurts were probably spontaneously fermented by wild bacteria living on the goat skin bags carried by the Bulgars (or Hunno-Bulgars), a nomadic people who began migrating into Europe in the second century AD and eventually settled in the Balkans at the end of the seventh century.
Archaeological evidence shows that some civilians were well advanced in agriculture and husbandry methods, and in the production of fermented milks such as yogurt (for example the 
Sumerians and Babylonians, the Pharos and Indians). The belief in its beneficial influence on human health and nutrition has existed in many civilizations. The use of yogurt by mediaeval Turks is recorded in the books Diwan Lughat al-Turk by Mahmud Kashgari and Kutadgu Bilig by Yusuf Has Hajib written in the eleventh century. In both texts the word “yoghurt” is mentioned in different sections and its use by nomadic Turks is described. The first account of a European encounter with yogurt occurs in French clinical history: King Francois I suffering from an intestinal complaint which no French doctor could cure. His ally Suleiman the Magnificent sent a Jewish doctor from Constantinople, who allegedly cured the patient with yogurt. The doctor arrived on foot with flock of sheep and cured his royal client, but refused to divulge the secret of his concoctions. It is likely, however, that the origin of yogurt was from Middle East after domestication of milk producing animals began, around 9000 B.C.
The Russian biologist Ilya Ilyich Mechnikov co-winner of 1908 Nobel Prize had an unproven hypothesis that regular consumption of yogurt was responsible for the unusually long lifespans of Bulgarian peasants. Believing Lactobacillus to be essential for good health, Mechnikov worked to popularize yogurt as a foodstuff throughout Europe. It fell to a Sephardic Jewish entrepreneur named Isaac Carasso to industrialize the production of yogurt. The moral of this story is this: keep eating yogurt that is rich in Acidophilus and Bifidus, for intestinal health!
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I hated yogurt for years and years, except when it was served as a dipping sauce or as that kind of soup stuff — you know — with the garlic and mint and cucumber.
But I began trying to make my own a couple of years ago, and started straining it and is it ever yummy.
A small container of non-fat Greek-style yogurt fell out of my fridge and, unbeknownst to me, cracked. When I went to eat the yogurt a couple of days later, it had drained through the crack, leaving a rich, thick, almost cheese-like substance.
I imagine that the whey that drained out is half the goodness, but oh my, the remaining yogurt was wonderful.
I’ve since started buying my yogurt in larger containers, and decanting breakfast-sized portions into reusable cups for breakfast at work–but wouldn’t it be great if we still had those crocks you mention? And milk bottles?
Alas, it’s all in the past.
My favorite yogurt is “Brown Cow” – an organic yogurt sold at Whole Foods here. It has very little whey, but the creamy top layer is divine! I like the plain, but also the Maple flavors….
PAGE makes a good, thick, Greek style yogurt. Good stuff. Even the nonfat version is good.
There is also an Indian restaurant in NYC where, if you are new to them, and order food very hot, a waiter stands behind you with a dish of yogurt….. just in case. Yogurt is probably the absolute best thing to eat if something is too spciy
They sell FAGE here. And I know there’s probably a dossier somewhere outlining all of the evils of FAGE and proving I will not only die from consuming it, but take the entire planet with me – but omg, it’s tasty stuff!
Your memories of the Bulgarian yogurt are really special. I think all of us “of a certain age” remember a time when even if we were city folk, we lived much closer to the land and food production. My childhood had “Mr. Egg”, who came once a week with a basket of eggs and my Mom picked out what she wanted.
I buy the Trader Joe’s Goat’s Milk Yogurt in the 32 oz. tub. It is amazing. I usually strain a cup or two for Tzatziki, which is a Greek dip with minced garlic, olive oil, lemon juice, red wine vinegar AND English cucumber, chopped and drained and sprinkled with ouzo.
Straining is really easy. Put a strainer over a bowl, line with 3-5 layers of cheesecloth, pour yogurt into cheesecloth, wrap bowl with terry bath towel (you may just need to cover the bowl, it’s cold where I live and I need the extra warmth that the towel provides). Let sit for at least four up to 24 hours, depending on how dry you want the yogurt. Save the whey, it’s really good to add to soups or stews. I also use the Greek yogurt plain and salted lightly as a substitute for ricotta. Oh, my strainer is a wide shallow one I got in an Asian grocery. I don’t know how I ever lived without it. It’s much easier to truly quickly strain something when it’s not all bunched up in the bottom of a strainer.
Save the whey! That’s what my aunt used to say. nothing went to the rubbish that wasn’t meant.
I remember also the ice deliveries in my early youth, a van with a wooden structure on its back, which would be carrying upwards 3oo ice blocks, each measuring roughly one meter, and very heavy, at least I thought they were as a boy, as I used to wait for the van and the iceman so I would be able to chip a bit of the chunk for fooling around…
Sometimes, I wish I lived next to a cow or pigs or goats or had some. When I went to visit my cousins, we would make a great ritual of gathering the food scraps and taking it to the back fence and hand feeding the cows next door.
I vaguely remember a grandmother that had an “ice box” with the whirlygig on the top. There are several great early 20th century stories set in the “ice plant”. One may have been by Jack London. I don’t quite remember, but I remember that they were really good stories, I’ll have to find them for you.
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