The exact origin of yogurt is not known. But we do know that this important dairy product dates back to biblical times and beyond. Yogurt was probably first eaten in the Middle East. In that region’s hot climate, milk spoils rapidly. For this reason yogurt, which does not spoil easily, was a welcome discovery. Yogurt no doubt developed some time in the distant past when certain bacteria accidentally got into some stored milk.

That is what yogurt is today milk in which two friendly strains of bacteria are grown. The names of these micro organisms are Lactobacillus bulgaricus and Streptococus thermophilus

How is yogurt made? In its most common form, yogurt is made from cow’s milk. Much of the fat is often removed and nonfat milk solids with extra protein are added. The milk is homogenized, pasteurized, and then injected with the bacteria. Sometimes fruit preserves and other ingredients are added. But in natural yogurt, no artificial flavor, color, or preservatives should be used.

The milk, now containing the bacteria, is piped into machines that fill the yogurt cups you see in the stores. These cups are then stored in incubators until the product reaches the custard like thickness typical of yogurt. Throughout this process, temperatures must be carefully controlled for the yogurt to develop properly.

Yogurt is a food with many uses. It is a good source of protein calcium, certain B vitamins, and minerals. Because of its nutrional value, many people eat yogurt as a supplement to their reguler diet or as a snack between meals. It can be enjoyed by itself or combined with other foods, such as apple sauce, peanut butter, or dry cereal. Many cooks use yogurt in recipes for salad dressings, desserts, and main dishes.

Yogurt is a popular food in many parts of the world. In Finland it is glumes, in Norway kyael meelk, and in Russia prostokvasha. In India, the Balkans, and the Middle East, yogurt is used as an ingredient in many dishes.

Food markets in the United States offer different types of yogurt. There is the sundaestyle yogurt, with fruit on the bottom; Swissstyle, with fruit throughout; and westernstyle, with fruit on the bottom and fruit coloring and sweetening on top. Two of the most popular types of yogurt are frozen yogurt on a stick and soft frozen yogurt served from machines.

Some people make yogurt at home with their own yogurt machine. The instructions, which come with the machine, must be followed carefully. For example, unless the milk is kept at the right temperature, the bacteria cannot live. The result would then be sour milk, not yogurt.

Cristropher Columbus found Central Aerican Indians using cacao beans for money. But he failed to discover the real treasure hidden in the dark brown, almond shaped been. This was left to the Spanish explorer Hernando Cortes.

When Cortes and his men conquered the Aztec Empire in Mexico in 1519, they dound the Indian using the cocoa beans to make a beverage called chocolatl. This early from of chocolate was very bitter, abd Spaniards didn’t like the drink until they sweetened I with sugarcane.

Cortes took cacao beans back with him to Spain, where chocolate became the special drink of the aristrocacy. The Spaniards experimented with new flavorings, such ad vanilla or cinnamon. Menwhile the art of chocolate making itself was kept a closely guarded Spanish secret.

Another 100 years passed before the other courts of Europe were introduced to the exotic drink. The elegant court of France adopted it at once. In England chocolate made its appearance in 1657 at thje first “chocolate hause”, which soon became a fashionable meeting place.

Chocolate was too expensive for any but the very wealthy, since the beans had to be ground by hand. In 1730 the invention of a machine that speeded up the grinding process lowered the price.

In 1828 C.J Van Houten, a Netherlander, revolutionized the chocolate industry by inventing a press that squeezed the rich cocoa butter out of the cacao beans. He ground the remaining chocolate into powder. This chocolate powder, or cocoa, made a smoother, less rich drink than the thick chocolate of the 18th century. Even more revolutionary., the cocoa, the cocoa butter that had been squeezed out was added to a sugar and chocolate combination and molded into bars. People began to eat chocolate as well as drink it.

But the chocolate wass still coarse and bitter. In 1876 M. D. Peter, of Vevey, Switzerland, put milk into his chocolate and produced a new flavor. A few year later final refinement turned chocolate into the smooth grained, vevelty candy of today.

The apple, often called “the kings of fruits,” is the most important tree fruit of the temperate regions of the world. Apples have been grown and used as food since the dawn of history. Cahrred remains found in stone age lake dwellings in central Europe show that prehistoric man ate apples. There are carvings of apples on ancient tombs and monuments in the Near East.

The apple appears often in the myths and folklore of ancient civilization. In greek mythology Hercules traveled to the end of world to bring back the golden apples of the Hesperides. The apple of discord the prize in a beauty contest caused a quarrel between the gods that led to the Trojan War. A Norse myth tells of magic apples that kept people young forever. The Halloween gane of dipping for apples had its beginning among the Celtic peoples of Britain, as a way of foretelling the future.

Apples were brought to America by the earliest European settlers. At first apples were used mainly for cider, which was a popular beverage in England and northern France, where most of the early colonist came from. (cider another name for apple juice that has fermented. It contains a small percentage of alcohol-about as much as beer).
As the frontier moved westward, apple tress followed it. One of the first things settler attended to after the land was cleared and the cabin raised was planting a few apple tress in the yard.

Origin of the apple
Although there are numerous kinds of wild, or crab, apples native to different part of the world, the kind from which the familiar cultivated apple developed came from the mountains of southwestern and central Asia, between the regions of the black and Caspian seas and eastward from there. This ancestor of the modern aplle, which still grows wild, is smaller and more sour than our present fine varieties, but the tree on which it grows resembles our present cultivated trees.

People selcted the best fruit from the wild trees for eating and used seed from the better fruit for planting. In this way quality of apples was gradually improved.

Uses of apples
Apples have many uses. They are eaten fresh, cooked, dried, and canned. Their juice is used for drinking and making vinegar. Aplles furnish valuable minerals and vitamins and add bulk to the diet. Fres apples help clean the teeth and reduce tooth decay.
Almost 49,000,000 metric tons (160,000,000 bushels) of apples are produced each year in commercial orchards in the United States alone. About 60 percent of the crop is sold as fresh fruit. The rest in canned commercially as applesuece and sliced apples, is frozen, or is crushed and pressed for apple juice or vinegar. Apple pie is a favorite dessert in United State and Canada.