Curd vs Yogurt vs Probiotic Yogurt: What’s the difference?
Curd is often confused with yogurt. The audience generally perceives that yogurt and curd are interchangeable; they’re just different names of the same thing. Then, you’d get response that’d say, curd is the Indian version of what they address as yogurt in America. Another perception is that yogurt is thicker than curd and that’s the difference.
And then, to add another pinch of confusion to the entire scene enters the slang ‘probiotic’. Slang, is it?
But, don’t worry, we come to your rescue by enabling you to differentiate among the three.
Curd
Curd is obtained by first boiling and then cooling the milk to 30-40°C and adding a spoonful of curd to the same. Curd is composed of lactic acid bacteria. This bacteria multiplies itself and in a few hours ferments the milk. Milk solids that remain post curdling the milk give way to curd which can further be processed to make paneer.
The bacterial strength of curd tends to vary from one home to the other and therefore, it cannot be regarded as a standardized product.
Curd contains very minute amounts of live bacteria but plenty of lactic acid. This is the reason why curd acts as a great body coolant but cannot treat gut disorders.
Yogurt
Yogurt is prepared using similar techniques to curd but the fermentation of the milk is done by adding two specific strains of bacteria called lactobacillus bulgaris and streptococcus thermophilus. The specific bacteria (Lactobacillus bulgaricus and Steptococcus thermophilus) used to ferment milk to obtain yogurt are called ‘starter cultures’ or ‘yogurt cultures’. The bacteria ferment the lactose in the milk causing it to produce lactic acid, which gives yogurt its tangy and acidic taste. The addition of the two particular bacteria makes the product standardized and homogenous for there’s an assiduity of both quality and quantity of bacteria in the yogurt.
The essential strains of live bacteria cleanse the intestine, stomach and are known to heal diarrhoea too.
Probiotic yogurt
Probiotics are live bacteria and yeasts that are good for your health, especially the digestive system. Probiotics are often called "good" or "helpful" bacteria because they help keep your gut healthy. For bacteria to be called a probiotic, the specific lactic acid producing bacterial count per gram shall not be less than 10,00,000. Lactobacillus is the most common probiotic. It’s the one you’ll find in yogurt and other fermented foods. FDA (USA) has approved mainly 2 strains of lactic acid producing bacteria, Lactobacillus bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophilus for making yogurt.
Now that you know the difference among the three, you’ve got exactly no reason to not buy EkoYogurt Starter Culture and enjoy probiotic yogurt at home.
