Strained yoghurt, yoghurt cheese, labneh, or Greek yoghurt is yoghurt

Yoghurt

Yoghurt, yogurt or yogourt is a dairy product produced by bacterial fermentation of milk. The bacteria used to make yoghurt are known as "yoghurt cultures"...

 which has been strained in a cloth or paper bag or filter to remove the whey

Whey

Whey or Milk Serum is the liquid remaining after milk has been curdled and strained. It is a by-product of the manufacture of cheese or casein and has several commercial uses. Sweet whey is manufactured during the making of rennet types of hard cheese like cheddar or Swiss cheese...

, giving a consistency between that of yoghurt

Yoghurt

Yoghurt, yogurt or yogourt is a dairy product produced by bacterial fermentation of milk. The bacteria used to make yoghurt are known as "yoghurt cultures"...

 and cheese

Cheese

Cheese is a generic term for a diverse group of milk-based food products. Cheese is produced throughout the world in wide-ranging flavors, textures, and forms....

, while preserving yoghurt's distinctive sour taste. Like many yoghurts, strained yoghurt is often made from milk

Milk

Milk is a white liquid produced by the mammary glands of mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals before they are able to digest other types of food. Early-lactation milk contains colostrum, which carries the mother's antibodies to the baby and can reduce the risk of many...

 which has been enriched by boiling off some of the water content, or by adding extra butterfat

Butterfat

Butterfat or milkfat is the fatty portion of milk. Milk and cream are often sold according to the amount of butterfat they contain.- Composition :The fatty acids of butterfat are typically composed as follows :...

 and powdered milk

Powdered milk

Powdered milk is a manufactured dairy product made by evaporating milk to dryness. One purpose of drying milk is to preserve it; milk powder has a far longer shelf life than liquid milk and does not need to be refrigerated, due to its low moisture content. Another purpose is to reduce its bulk for...

.

Yoghurt strained through muslin

Muslin

Muslin |sewing patterns]], such as for clothing, curtains, or upholstery. Because air moves easily through muslin, muslin clothing is suitable for hot, dry climates.- Etymology and history :...

 is a traditional food in the Levant

Levant

The Levant or ) is the geographic region and culture zone of the "eastern Mediterranean littoral between Anatolia and Egypt" . The Levant includes most of modern Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Israel, the Palestinian territories, and sometimes parts of Turkey and Iraq, and corresponds roughly to the...

, Eastern Mediterranean, Near East

Near East

The Near East is a geographical term that covers different countries for geographers, archeologists, and historians, on the one hand, and for political scientists, economists, and journalists, on the other...

, and South Asia, where it is often used in cooking, as it is high enough in fat not to curd

Curd

Curds are a dairy product obtained by curdling milk with rennet or an edible acidic substance such as lemon juice or vinegar, and then draining off the liquid portion. The increased acidity causes the milk proteins to tangle into solid masses, or curds. The remaining liquid, which contains only...

le at higher temperatures. It is used in both cooked and raw, savoury and sweet dishes. Due to the straining process to remove excess whey, even non-fat varieties are rich and creamy.

In Western Europe and the U.S., strained yoghurt has become increasingly popular because it is richer in texture than unstrained yoghurt, but low in fat. Since straining removes whey, strained yoghurt is higher in protein and lower in sugar and carbohydrates than unstrained yoghurt.

In fact, most of the recent growth in the $4.1 billion yoghurt industry has come from the strained yoghurt segment. In the West, the term "Greek yoghurt" has become synonymous with strained yoghurt due to successful marketing by the Greek Fage

Fage

Fage S.A. is a Greek dairy company and one of the major dairy brands in the country. It is headquartered in Athens in the Athens Industrial Area west of downtown. It manufactures dairy products including milk, yogurt and ice cream...

 brand, though strained yoghurt is a staple in many countries besides Greece, and most yoghurt in Greece is not strained. "Greek-style" yoghurts are similar to Greek strained yoghurt, but may be thickened with thickening agents, or if made the traditional way, are based on domestic (rather than Greek) milk.

Greece

Strained yoghurt ("στραγγιστό γιαούρτι" in Greek) is used in Greek food mostly as the base for tzatziki

Tzatziki

Tzatziki, tzadziki, or tsatsiki is a Greek meze or appetizer, also used as a sauce for souvlaki and gyros. Tzatziki is made of strained yoghurt mixed with cucumbers, garlic, salt, usually olive oil, pepper, sometimes lemon juice, and parsley. Tzatziki is always served cold...

 dip and as a dessert

Dessert

In cultures around the world, dessert is a course that typically comes at the end of a meal, usually consisting of sweet food. The word comes from the French language as dessert and this from Old French desservir, "to clear the table" and "to serve." Common Western desserts include cakes, biscuits,...

, where honey

Honey

Honey is a sweet food made by bees using nectar from flowers. The variety produced by honey bees is the one most commonly referred to and is the type of honey collected by beekeepers and consumed by humans...

, sour cherry syrup

Sour Cherry

Prunus cerasus, or the sour cherry, is a species of Prunus in the subgenus Cerasus , native to much of Europe and southwest Asia. It is closely related to the wild cherry Prunus cerasus, or the sour cherry, is a species of Prunus in the subgenus Cerasus (cherries), native to much of Europe and...

, or spoon sweets are often served on top. A few savoury Greek dishes use strained yoghurt. In Greece

Greece

Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

, strained yoghurt, like yoghurt in general, is traditionally made from sheep's milk. More recently, cow's milk is often used, especially in industrial production.

Cyprus

Similarly, strained yoghurt is widely used in Cypriot cuisine

Cypriot cuisine

Cypriot cuisine is the cuisine of Cyprus and can be described as a blend of Greek cuisines. Greek Cypriot cuisine is another regional Greek cuisine along with Cretan, Ionian, or Attic....

 not only as an ingredient in recipes, but also on its own or as a supplement to a dish. In Cyprus

Cyprus

Cyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...

, strained yoghurt is usually made from cow's milk.

Near East

Strained yoghurt or labneh (also known as labni or lebni) is popular in the Levant

Levant

The Levant or ) is the geographic region and culture zone of the "eastern Mediterranean littoral between Anatolia and Egypt" . The Levant includes most of modern Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Israel, the Palestinian territories, and sometimes parts of Turkey and Iraq, and corresponds roughly to the...

 and the Arabian Peninsula

Arabian Peninsula

The Arabian Peninsula is a land mass situated north-east of Africa. Also known as Arabia or the Arabian subcontinent, it is the world's largest peninsula and covers 3,237,500 km2...

. Besides being used fresh, labneh is also dried then formed into balls, sometimes covered with herbs or spices, and stored in olive oil

Olive oil

Olive oil is an oil obtained from the olive , a traditional tree crop of the Mediterranean Basin. It is commonly used in cooking, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, and soaps and as a fuel for traditional oil lamps...

. Labneh is a popular mezze dish and sandwich

Sandwich

A sandwich is a food item, typically consisting of two or more slices of :bread with one or more fillings between them, or one slice of bread with a topping or toppings, commonly called an open sandwich. Sandwiches are a widely popular type of lunch food, typically taken to work or school, or...

 ingredient.It is also a traditional Bedouin

Bedouin

The Bedouin are a part of a predominantly desert-dwelling Arab ethnic group traditionally divided into tribes or clans, known in Arabic as ..-Etymology:...

 food. The flavour depends largely on the sort of milk used: labneh from cow's milk has a rather milder flavour. Also the quality of olive oil

Olive oil

Olive oil is an oil obtained from the olive , a traditional tree crop of the Mediterranean Basin. It is commonly used in cooking, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, and soaps and as a fuel for traditional oil lamps...

 topping influences the taste of labneh. Milk from camels and other animals is used in labneh production in Saudi Arabia and other Persian Gulf countries.

Bedouin Labneh

While Bedouin

Bedouin

The Bedouin are a part of a predominantly desert-dwelling Arab ethnic group traditionally divided into tribes or clans, known in Arabic as ..-Etymology:...

 will also eat fresh labneh, they also produce a dry, hard labneh that can be stored. For that, the strained labneh is pressed in its cheese cloth between two heavy stones and later sun dried. This dry labneh is often eaten with khubz

Khubz

Khubz, khoubz or khobz , an Arabic word for bread, but usually used by non-Arabic speakers to refer to a flatbread that forms a staple of the local diet in Arabic-speaking countries from the Arabian Peninsula to Morocco....

 (Arabic bread) in which both the freshly made bread (khubz

Khubz

Khubz, khoubz or khobz , an Arabic word for bread, but usually used by non-Arabic speakers to refer to a flatbread that forms a staple of the local diet in Arabic-speaking countries from the Arabian Peninsula to Morocco....

) and the labneh are mixed with some water, (some amount of animal fat) some salt and then mashed into a porrige. The food is then rolled into balls by using the (right) hand and eaten like kabsa

Kabsa

Kabsa is a family of rice dishes that are served mostly in Saudi Arabia — where it is commonly regarded as a national dish — and the other Arab states of the Persian Gulf. Kabsa, though, is believed to be indigenous to Yemen...

.It is similar to the stringed, dry yak cheese cubes made by Tibetan nomads

Tibetan people

The Tibetan people are an ethnic group that is native to Tibet, which is mostly in the People's Republic of China. They number 5.4 million and are the 10th largest ethnic group in the country. Significant Tibetan minorities also live in India, Nepal, and Bhutan...

.

Jordan

In Jordan, labneh is very common for breakfast, sandwiches and mezze too. It comes in two forms: soft labneh, which is manufactured and sold in large quantities at supermarkets, and hard or authentic labneh, which is sold in small shops in towns such as Jerash

Jerash

Jerash, the Gerasa of Antiquity, is the capital and largest city of Jerash Governorate , which is situated in the north of Jordan, north of the capital Amman towards Syria...

, Ajloun

Ajloun

Ajloun also written Ajlun is the capital town of the Ajloun Governorate . A hilly town in the north of Jordan, located 76 kilometers north west of Amman. It is noted for its impressive ruins the 12th century castle which known nowadays as Ajlun Castle...

 and Kerak

Kerak

Kerak Castle is a large crusader castle located in Kerak in Jordan. It is one of the largest crusader castles in the Levant.Construction of the castle began in the 1140s, under Pagan, the butler of Fulk of Jerusalem. The Crusaders called it Crac des Moabites or "Karak in Moab", as it is frequently...

. Each town makes labneh in small factories which also make other dairy products like Jameed

Jameed

Jameed is hard dry laban made from goats' milk. Milk is kept in a fine woven cheesecloth to make a thick yogurt. Salt is added daily to thicken the yogurt even more and the outside of the yogurt filled cheesecloth is rinsed with water to allow any remaining whey to seep through...

 and salted White Cheese

White cheese

White cheese may refer to:*Beyaz peynir, a salty, white cheese made from unpasteurized sheep milk. The cheese has a slightly grainy appearance and is similar to Greek feta cheese*Feta, a brined curd cheese traditionally made in Greece...

. Authentic labneh is stored in olive oil, which adds to its flavour.

Lebanon

Laban (yoghurt), labneh (strained yoghurt), and Lebanon all come from the Semitic

Semitic languages

The Semitic languages are a group of related languages whose living representatives are spoken by more than 270 million people across much of the Middle East, North Africa and the Horn of Africa...

 root LBN 'white'. Yoghurt, strained or not, is an important element in Lebanese cuisine, eaten for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. One famous Lebanese dish is laban mixed with crushed dry mint leaves, garlic, salt and sliced cucumbers. Laban can be eaten sweet or salted, and used for stuffed vegetables, meat stew, and fried kibbe.

In Lebanon, labneh is most commonly made of cows' milk, which is available all year; it is also made from goats' milk from April to September. It is either eaten alone or used as a filling for pita sandwiches. It can also be served as a light dish at dinner. The popular Lebanese garlic sauce is made of labneh and garlic. Labneh is used as a spread on pita bread or Lebanese Marouq bread. Olive oil, vegetables, Lebanese mint, thyme, garlic or other spices are usually added to dishes and sandwiches. Labneh bil zayit (labneh in oil) is also very popular because the cheese can be kept for over a year. However, as it ages it turns slightly more sour. This is prepared by rolling the labneh into little balls the size of a nut and filling a jar with olive oil then filling it with the labneh balls. Labneh malboudeh is drained labneh. The younger Lebanese generation appreciates labneh as an alternative dip for French fries or nachos

Syria

In Syria it is eaten for breakfast

Breakfast

Breakfast is the first meal taken after rising from a night's sleep, most often eaten in the early morning before undertaking the day's work...

 with olive oil, cheese, olives and bread.

Iran

Strained yoghurt in Iran

Iranian cuisine

Iranian cuisine is diverse, with each province featuring dishes, culinary traditions and styles distinct to its region.It includes a wide variety of foods ranging from chelo kabab , khoresht Iranian cuisine is diverse, with each province featuring dishes, culinary traditions and styles distinct to...

 is called Mâst Chekide and is usually mixed with water for various dishes.
In Northern Iran

Northern Iran

Northern Iran includes the Southern Caspian regions representing provinces of Gilan, Mazandaran, and Golestan of Iran ....

, Mâst Chekide, is a variety of kefir

Kefir

Kefir is a fermented milk drink that originated with shepherds of the North Caucasus region, who discovered that fresh milk carried in leather pouches would occasionally ferment into an effervescent beverage...

 with a distinct sour taste. It is usually mixed fresh herbs (pesto-like

Pesto

Pesto is a sauce originating in Genoa in the Liguria region of northern Italy , and traditionally consists of crushed garlic, basil and pine nuts blended with olive oil and Parmigiano Reggiano and Fiore Sardo...

) pure called Delal

Delal sauce

"Delal" or "Dalal" is a condiment from Northern Iran. It is a puree made of fresh herbs such as cilantro, parsley and basil and is heavily salted in order to stay preserved for a longer period. It is usually spread on fresh fruits or vegetables, mixed in salad dressings or mixed with olives, garlic...

.
Yoghurt is a side dish to all Iranian meals

Iranian cuisine

Iranian cuisine is diverse, with each province featuring dishes, culinary traditions and styles distinct to its region.It includes a wide variety of foods ranging from chelo kabab , khoresht Iranian cuisine is diverse, with each province featuring dishes, culinary traditions and styles distinct to...

.
Strained yoghurt is used as dips and various appetizers with multitudes of ingredients: cucumbers, onions, shallots, fresh herbs (dill, spearmint, parsley, cilantro), spinach, walnuts, zereshk, garlic, etc.
The most popular appetizers are spinach

Spinach

Spinach is an edible flowering plant in the family of Amaranthaceae. It is native to central and southwestern Asia. It is an annual plant , which grows to a height of up to 30 cm. Spinach may survive over winter in temperate regions...

 or eggplant borani, ‘’Mâst-o-Khiâr’’ with cucumber, spring onions and herbs, or ‘’Mâst-Musir’’ with wild shallots.

Armenian Diaspora

Labneh (known as lebni in Armenian

Armenian language

The Armenian language is an Indo-European language spoken by the Armenian people. It is the official language of the Republic of Armenia as well as in the region of Nagorno-Karabakh. The language is also widely spoken by Armenian communities in the Armenian diaspora...

) is popular among Armenians expatriates from Levantine countries such as Jordan

Jordan

Jordan , officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan , Al-Mamlaka al-Urduniyya al-Hashemiyya) is a kingdom on the East Bank of the River Jordan. The country borders Saudi Arabia to the east and south-east, Iraq to the north-east, Syria to the north and the West Bank and Israel to the west, sharing...

, Lebanon, Israel

Israel

The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

 , Syria

Syria

Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....

 and Palestine

Palestine

Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....

.

Turkey

A thicker, higher-fat variety known as süzme yoğurt ("strained yoghurt") or torba yoğurdu ("bag yoghurt"), is made by straining the yoghurt curds from the whey.

Afghanistan, Tajikistan

In Afghanistan

Afghanistan

Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...

 and Central Asia (countries like Tajikistan

Tajikistan

Tajikistan , officially the Republic of Tajikistan , is a mountainous landlocked country in Central Asia. Afghanistan borders it to the south, Uzbekistan to the west, Kyrgyzstan to the north, and China to the east....

 and Uzbekistan

Uzbekistan

Uzbekistan , officially the Republic of Uzbekistan is a doubly landlocked country in Central Asia and one of the six independent Turkic states. It shares borders with Kazakhstan to the west and to the north, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to the east, and Afghanistan and Turkmenistan to the south....

), a type of strained yoghurt called "Chaka" is eaten.

India and Pakistan

In south Asia, regular unstrained yoghurt (dahi), made from cow or water buffalo milk, is often sold in disposable clay pots. Kept for a couple of hours in its clay

Clay

Clay is a general term including many combinations of one or more clay minerals with traces of metal oxides and organic matter. Geologic clay deposits are mostly composed of phyllosilicate minerals containing variable amounts of water trapped in the mineral structure.- Formation :Clay minerals...

 pot, some of the water evaporates through the clay's pores. But true strained yoghurt (chakka) is made by draining dahi in a cloth.
In the southern states of India - Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and
TamilNadu - the final course of lunch and dinner is a dish of
steamed rice mixed with dahi.

Shrikhand

Shrikhand

Shrikhand is an Indian sweet dish made of strained yogurt. It is one of the main desserts in Gujarati cuisine and Maharashtrian cuisine. It is also served with Gujarati thali sometimes as a sweet dish. Preparation of this dish is very simple but it takes some time to process yogurt properly.The...

 is an Indian

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

 dessert (eaten with poori) made with strained yoghurt and sugar, saffron

Saffron

Saffron is a spice derived from the flower of Crocus sativus, commonly known as the saffron crocus. Crocus is a genus in the family Iridaceae. Each saffron crocus grows to and bears up to four flowers, each with three vivid crimson stigmas, which are each the distal end of a carpel...

, cardamom

Cardamom

Cardamom refers to several plants of the genera Elettaria and Amomum in the ginger family Zingiberaceae. Both genera are native to India and Bhutan; they are recognised by their small seed pod, triangular in cross-section and spindle-shaped, with a thin papery outer shell and small black seeds...

, diced fruit and nuts mixed in. It is particularly popular in the state of Gujarat and Maharashtra

Maharashtra

Maharashtra is a state located in India. It is the second most populous after Uttar Pradesh and third largest state by area in India...

, where dairy producers market shrikhand similar to ice cream. In Pashtun

Pashtun people

Pashtuns or Pathans , also known as ethnic Afghans , are an Eastern Iranic ethnic group with populations primarily between the Hindu Kush mountains in Afghanistan and the Indus River in Pakistan...

-dominated regions of Pakistan a strained yoghurt known as chaka is often consumed with rice and meat dishes.

Mexico

Strained yoghurt is called jocoque in Mexico. It was popularised by local producers of Lebanese

Lebanese people

The Lebanese people are a nation and ethnic group of Levantine people originating in what is today the country of Lebanon, including those who had inhabited Mount Lebanon prior to the creation of the modern Lebanese state....

 origin and is widely popular in the country. The name jocoque is Nahuatl, and is also used for an indigenous cultured milk product similar to labneh.

North America

Strained yoghurt (often marketed as "Greek yogurt") has become popular in North America, where it is often used as a lower-calorie substitute for sour cream

Sour cream

Sour cream is a dairy product rich in fats obtained by fermenting a regular cream by certain kinds of lactic acid bacteria. The bacterial culture, which is introduced either deliberately or naturally, sours and thickens the cream. Its name stems from the production of lactic acid by bacterial...

 or crème fraîche

Crème fraîche

Crème fraîche is a soured cream containing about 28% butterfat and with a pH of around 4.5. It is soured with bacterial culture, but is less sour than sour cream. It has a comparatively high viscosity and a higher fat content....

.

Northern Europe

Strained yoghurt, in full-, low-, and no-fat versions, has become popular in Northern European cookery as a low-calorie alternative to cream in recipes. It is typically marketed as "Greek" or "Turkish" yoghurt.

In Denmark

Denmark

Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...

, a type of strained yoghurt named ymer

Ymer (dairy product)

Ymer is a Danish soured milk product which has been known since 1930. It is made by fermenting whole milk with the bacterial culture Lactococcus lactis. When producing fermented milk products such as yogurt, ymer, filmjölk, skyr, qvark and A-38, and also when producing cheese, one can add lactic...

 is available. In contrast to the Greek and Turkish variety, only a minor amount of whey

Whey

Whey or Milk Serum is the liquid remaining after milk has been curdled and strained. It is a by-product of the manufacture of cheese or casein and has several commercial uses. Sweet whey is manufactured during the making of rennet types of hard cheese like cheddar or Swiss cheese...

 is drained off in the production process. Ymer is traditionally consumed with the addition of ymerdrys (lit. Danish

Danish language

Danish is a North Germanic language spoken by around six million people, principally in the country of Denmark. It is also spoken by 50,000 Germans of Danish ethnicity in the northern parts of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, where it holds the status of minority language...

: ymer sprinkle), a mixture of bread crumbs made from rugbrød

Rugbrød

Rugbrød is a very commonly used bread in Denmark. The common rugbrød usually resembles a long brown rectangle, no more than 12 cm high, and 30–35 cm wide, although shapes and sizes may vary, as well as the ingredients...

and brown sugar

Brown sugar

Brown sugar is a sucrose sugar product with a distinctive brown color due to the presence of molasses. It is either an unrefined or partially refined soft sugar consisting of sugar crystals with some residual molasses content, or it is produced by the addition of molasses to refined white...

. Like other types of soured dairy products, ymer is often consumed at breakfast

Breakfast

Breakfast is the first meal taken after rising from a night's sleep, most often eaten in the early morning before undertaking the day's work...

. Strained yoghurt topped with muesli

Muesli

Muesli is a popular breakfast cereal based on uncooked rolled oats, fruit and nuts. It was developed around 1900 by Swiss physician Maximilian Bircher-Benner for patients in his hospital...

 and maple syrup

Maple syrup

Maple syrup is a syrup usually made from the xylem sap of sugar maple, red maple, or black maple trees, although it can also be made from other maple species such as the bigleaf maple. In cold climates, these trees store starch in their trunks and roots before the winter; the starch is then...

 is often served at brunch

Brunch

Brunch is a meal eaten between breakfast and lunch. The word is a portmanteau of breakfast and lunch.-Origin of the word:The 1896 supplement to the Oxford English Dictionary cites Punch magazine which wrote that the term was coined in Britain in 1895 to describe a Sunday meal for "Saturday-night...

in cafés in Denmark.