There is a village in the Lori Marz called Hamzachiman. The official name is Margahovit but it's popular name is Bozgegh. It is famous for its yogurt. They have a secret way of making it. The rumors are that they use rennet (used to make cheese) in order to make their yogurt firmer. It's a trade secret and the farmers do not reveal their secret. I myself prefer yogurt without any additives but it is getting more and more difficult to get it in the US. None of the manufacturers do not use rennet to make their yogurt firm. They use pectin - the organic producers use pectin extracted from oranges and the mass producers use pectin of unknown origin, most probably from oranges or apples. There is one manufacturer in Pennsylvania called Erivan Dairy (don't know if Erivan is a derivative of Yerevan). They make fine yogurt but is not widely available in the tri-state area.
I remembered about this when I looked at Google maps today - shows the village as Bozigekh.
I remembered about this when I looked at Google maps today - shows the village as Bozigekh.
Trader Joe's. I don't know if you have one around where you live, but they make it "European style," meaning naturally, with no pectin, which makes supermarket yogurt unappetizing once you've started noticing its strange, waxy presence.
ReplyDeleteWhat they do is use organic milk, and they let the yogurt sit longer than the mass produced kind, which makes it thicker and more sour from the lactic acid. It doesn't end up as thick as yogurt with additives, but real yogurt just isn't thick enough to form a solid.
Incidentally, they also hire their workers long-term, pay them good wages, and provide them with health insurance, which makes checking-out your groceries there feel like a strangely untraumatic experience: the cashiers are happier, they chat with the customers like "normal" human beings, and they look like they had enough time in the morning to take a shower, have breakfast, maybe listen to the news a bit before they came to work. Cashiers in regular supermarkets, on the other hand, look like people being milked for their last dime, stressed-out and over-worked, with dark bags under their eyes and frizzy hair.
But I just had a nice cup of Tur..., erm, I mean--Armenian--coffee, my dendrites are all lubed-up, my synapses cathected, and I digress.
Traders Joe's sounds nice and dandy and well described by you untill you realize that it is owned by the same people who own Aldi.
ReplyDeleteA place that fits to your description of a regular supermarket ( to be generous).
My friend they are just after making money even if that means taking advantage of the split of the society.
That's depressing, Haik. I'm still glad, though, that apparently they are following some semblance of the the employee policy that TJ's originally followed. Maybe it was part of the contract between TJ's and Aldi. I don't know.
ReplyDeleteIn any case, yeah, they're all in it for the money, no doubt. One funny, if schizoid, reflection of that fact is how, nowadays, all the commercials talk about "in these difficult times that we are living through," then go on to try to sell you more ridiculous garbage that you don't need.
Gas companies talk about how much they are doing for the environment.
Financial institutions talk about how careful they will be with your investments.
Eshi ashkhar a.
Haik, Aldi's employees are highly paid (within their category) as well. No one comes even close to mistreating their employees like Walmart does, though. If you have time, read some of the lawsuits brought over against Walmart and the testimony by their VP-s. Not a pretty sight with their elitist and sexist approach to it all.
ReplyDeleteAs for yogurt, the Trader Joes European style is the one I usually buy. That's pretty much the only yogurt out there that doesn't have pectin. Stonyfield Farm used to be one, too, but since Danon took over them, they have added it to their ingredients, too.
Sometimes I seriously think about driving 8 hours to Philly to get my Erivan yogurt.
You can make your own yogurt.
ReplyDelete"Who or what is Erivan?"
ReplyDeleteWe call our yogurt "Erivan" as a way of honoring our ethnic Armenian heritage. Erivan (also spelled Yerevan) is the capital of Armenia. The "art" of yogurt making has been passed down through many generations. Thanks for asking!!!
somethiing tells me that owner of Erivan are baku makuci fuckers, due to the fact that azerGAYS/turGAYS are the only ppl who say Erivan for YEREVAN. REAL Hays dont ever use Erivan, I dont know of any Hayastanci who says Yerevan as ERIVAN. i will look into this more, as i dont consider baku maku wanna be Hays as REAL authentic genuine HAYS
The "Erevan" spelling is a hold-over from the Russian "EPEBAH," I think.
ReplyDeleteBut, in any case, I'm curious: The more than half of the entire Armenian population that lives outside of Armenia, many of whom were born outside of Armenia--are they allowed to think of themselves as "REAL" Armenians, or are they really GAYrmenians, too?
Lucky us in Glendale, CA - got 15 different kinds of yogurt in Armenian markets, plus the Russian kefir :))))
ReplyDeleteBTW, Erivan was the tsarist Russian name for Yerevan... my Grandpa's birth certificate says he was born in Erivan' (with a "yat'" in the end)... don't know about the company...