Sophia’s Secret: Homemade Greek Yogurt By Naz Sioshansi 8 Summer 2008 edible boston I found it quite by accident. I was interviewing Ana Sortun, owner/chef of Oleana, about the sources of her spices, when she mentioned that she also buys homemade Greek yogurt from Sophia’s Greek Pantry in Belmont. I was speechless. Sophia’s on Belmont Street, near the Belmont/Watertown line? This is the same store where I have been buying feta cheese, olive oil and baklava for years. Not to mention commercial Greek and Lebanese yogurt. I couldn’t believe it. I knew the store intimately, but with its abundance of Greek food items, not once have I seen a sign about homemade yogurt. When I next went to the store, I asked Sophia Skopetos, the owner, if she sold homemade Greek yogurt. She laughed, “Of course. How did you find out?” With that she headed to the back of the store and into the commercial fridge to bring out a sample. It was amazing. Thick, creamy and just a little tart. But why, why keep this a secret? “It’s not on purpose. I have to keep it in the refrigerators out back. I have created a special bucket that continues to strain the yogurt, ensuring that water doesn’t condense at the top. True Greek yogurt is strained for days and I need to make sure that the water has a way to leak out.” “I have always made my own yogurt. My mother made her own yogurt, my grandmother made her own yogurt. I can’t imagine doing it any other way. I learned how to make it when I was young, working in the kitchen with my grandmother and mother in Greece. I don’t remember “learning” the recipe. I just watched and helped, tasting with my mother and grandmother to make the necessary adjustments. There were never any precise measurements; just rough ratios—and taste tests along the way!” “Greek yogurt is now available in many supermarkets, but 10 years ago, you couldn’t find it anywhere. You had to make your own. I have three sons and I wanted them to have the real thing growing up, like I did. So I began to research where I could find the best milk,” explained Sophia. Her research led her to a number of farms across Worcester County and into Vermont. “I would drive three hours for the milk and still do. The key is to have fresh milk from sheep and goats that haven’t been fed hormones—just like the ones on our family farm in Greece. That was step one of my research.” The second step was perfecting the mixture of sheep to goat milk and percentage of fat. “Since I was only making it for my family, it was easy to experiment with the ratio. I found 2% milk works the best. It’s roughly half sheep and half goat,” she smileed, not giving it all away. “When I opened Sophia’s Greek Pantry seven years ago, people started asking if I was going to sell Greek yogurt. Since it was not available in the States at that point, I started to make it. One person would tell another and soon people were asking me for it. In fact, Ana Sortun found out in a similar way. She uses the same olive oil that we sell. Our distributor, who is Greek, told her that we sold Greek yogurt. She came in to try some and that’s how we got involved. There are a number of other restaurants who also buy the yogurt wholesale.” “I really don’t want the yogurt to be a “secret,” she laughed. “I started this store because I miss my home. I came to the States when I was 17 to study; my family is still in Greece and I want people to learn more about the country. By running this store, and being surrounded by Greek products and Greek customers, I feel more attached.” “Yogurt is an essential part of the Greek diet. Currently, there are a lot of studies being done on the positive impact of yogurt cultures on the immune system. In Greece, it was an ancient remedy. If you had a stomachache, your mother gave you yogurt. And the culture is not something fancy. I simply use a spoonful of my last batch to create the culture in the next—there is nothing artificial or extraordinary. It is natural and basic.” In her honest and patriotic manner, Sophia adds that she is proud to see Fage, the commercial brand of Greek yogurt, doing so well in the United States. “When they first started to distribute in the States, it was only available in New York. I would drive up once a week to buy it for the store. Now it is available in Whole Foods and I hear that they are opening a factory in New York. They have their share of the business and I have mine. In fact, as more people are exposed to Greek yogurt, they appreciate mine even more. It’s helped business.” In addition, the yogurt is the base of her homemade tzatziki sauce, the yogurt-cucumber-garlic sauce that is served alongside souvlaki. But when asked how she most prefers to eat her yogurt, Sophia replied, “Like I did when I was a child, with some whipped cream, nuts and fruit.” ✦ Sophia’s Greek Pantry 265 Belmont Street Belmont, MA 02148 (617) 489-1371 Naz Sioshansi is a freelancer writer living in Boston, MA with her husband. She has written for The Boston Phoenix, misstropolis.com and Wayside Magazine. She can be reached at [email protected]. EDIBLE boston Summer 2008 9