Locals and Tourists LOVE Old Beijing Yogurt.
When I think of China, I don’t exactly think “yogurt.” Great Wall + China? Yes. Dairy products + China? No.
How wrong I was!
“I’m gonna feed you something that’ll change your life,” proclaimed Gareth the day Colin and I arrived in Beijing.
Gareth has been a Peace Corps volunteer in China for a year, now, so we figured she might know what she was talking about. We followed her through the hot back streets of Beijing until we reached a dimly lit local store.
“What are those ceramic jugs strewn around the front entrance?” I asked.
“That’s it!” hollered Gareth. “Old Beijing Yogurt!”
“Whoa,” we gulped.
Gareth explained that not only would we drink this yogurt with a straw, but we could either order it at room temperature (otherwise known in Beijing summer as “hot”), or slightly refrigerated (as the Chinese don’t believe in very cold drinks).
I’m not sure which option YOU would pick, but we were rather firm on selecting the refrigerated option.
Gareth showing how to slurp the yogurt.
Gareth used her Mandarin language skills to select and pay for three palm-sized ceramic jugs with ornate blue and white paper covers. She plopped the jugs into our hands along with wrapped straws, then instructed us to stab the paper cover with the straw.
“Get ready for bliss,” Gareth commanded.
We stabbed the paper. We placed the straw between our lips. Then we slurped… slowly, fearfully…
YUM!
The yogurt was like a thick milkshake, but tangy with the refreshing tartness of the live and active cultures that make yogurt so good for you. Sluuuuurp!
I was soon in a happy-food-item trance, skipping in delight out the door of the store and towards our hostel.
“Wait!” cried out Gareth. “We have to pay extra if we take the ceramic containers, so let’s finish these on the front stoop and leave the pots here.”
“Oh!” we said, stopping short. Our American brains were confused about this non-disposable, non-takeaway container.
Look for this container when you're in Beijing!
That said, it took about ten more seconds before I’d slurped up the rest of my yogurt. Between sips, I shared fun yogurt facts with Gareth and Colin, including: “A recent study showed that one of the best foods for weight control is yogurt, because the cultures in it speed digestion,” and, “It is recommended that travelers eat yogurt regularly to help their tummies deal with foreign foods.”
“Good,” declared Gareth, “more excuses to eat this.”
So now this scrumptious China yogurt experience has me thinking: Which other places on this Earth have shockingly great yogurt? Further, what are other examples of delicious but surprising local foods that tourists never think to look for during world travel? Perhaps squid soup in land-locked Laos? Oh no, wait– that was just how I got food poisoning in 2009. Indeed, there is a fine line between surprisingly delicious and just plain dumb. How happy I am that Old Beijing Yogurt turned out to be in the “delicious” category!
When I went to China over the summer the hotel I stayed in brought me yogurt every night. I’m lactose intolerant so I was scared, but everything went better then expected. And the taste! I’ve tried so many times here in America to find something that came close, and last night I did. Kefir. My midwife recommended it because I don’t eat meat or consume a lot of dairy, and it’s super good for you with almost no milk sugars left in it. The fact that it’s fermented frightened me, but after the first sip I was like, “Holy crap, someone needs to taste this!” It has the same tart, zingy flavor as the yogurt I got in Beijing, and it comes in different flavors: Plain, blueberry, pomegranate, and something else. So if you find yourself missing that small comfort from China, give kefir a try.
Oooo, fabulous tip!
The difference between Old Beijing yogurt and grocery store yogurt (at least the ones in the US) is that Old Beijing yogurt:
1. the yogurt culture is very much alive, unlike the dead ones in the pasteurized (meaning sterilized) yogurts in the US
2. no added thickening agents (like in the yogurts sold in the US grocery stores)
3. the milk is not homogenized (meaning that the milk fat floats to the top, and has not be blended into a homogeneous liquid), giving the yogurt a natural milk character.
4. the live yogurt culture also gives Old Beijing yogurt a slightly carbonated character, that I love
5. things just taste better when you are standing outside absorbing the character of a city
p.s. I think Old Beijing yogurt is thinner, and no way like Greek yogurt which is thicker than most US grocery store yogurts.
Thanks for these helpful details!
I have found that Pavel’s Russian Yogurt (http://www.pavels.net/about/ – available only on the west coast) is the closest thing to Beijing Yogurt in the USA. Quote from the Pavel’s Yogurt website: “the same yogurt he made in Shanghai, and the same product we now make and sell in stores all over the West Coast”.
Add some maple syrup, close your eyes, take a spoonful and get transported to Beijing (minus the ticket price and pollution
)
Yum!
hi, all, Beijing yogurt is just like the plain yogurt in US without salt. I have no idea why the yogurt here need add salt. The Skyr yogurt jsut drinkable, you can buy from Mexican market, it is taste better than Yoplait.
Beijing yogurt is REALLY good. We tried making some last night but it didnt really work.Plus in China, you cant take glass Coke bottles either. And you also cant… eat the bottom of the cone at McDonalds or bring the Beijing yogurt glass cup thing. But you can jaywalk,litter,honk whenever you want…its a weird life out there.
True!!
I never knew that yogurt could be thick like a milkshake!
How did it taste? Did it really taste like yogurt or was it a milky-cheesy drink?
It was like really good yogurt!
Yum! That looks good. I think there are Chinese yogurt in a Chinese supermarket, but they don’t really like that. Instead they have cartoons on it and it tastes more like milk and yogurt together.
If you’re still interested, then what you tasted was pretty much what most yogurt in China taste like.
I myself is baffled as to why these yogurt aren’t as popular in the US, but it is still available here. You can find them (but perhaps with some difficulty) in chinese supermarkets. I know a store that sells these yogurt specifically called “Jing yogurt”. Of course, they won’t be nearly as good as to what you tasted in Beijing since those are what we consider to be the best chinese yogurt.
Good luck!
Thanks for the tip, Hannah!
That doesn’t look like yougurt. It looks like old milk. I am suprised that you say it tasted good. It looks like old milk to me.
After that day did any of you get sick? Even if I was born in China I never bothered to go to Bejing. I hate how hot it is there.
Nope, we never got sick from the yogurt! I did get the flu later in the trip, though, but I’m pretty sure it was from the fact that few people use soap there.
That yogurt looks yummy. I think they sell something similar to that in Chinatown. They call it “yogurt soft drink” and it tastes basically like how you described the “Old Beijing Yogurt”.
Yummy that looks really good, even though I don’t really love yogurt that much. It looks like it is a good invention.
You’ve sold me! What is the name of the store and roughly how do you get there?
Nice! It seemed to be sold at most every corner store in Beijing. (Just look for the container that looks like the photos.) I’m not sure about other cities. Good luck and report back!
I’m always surprised by the yummy food in China that I never knew they had here until I moved here. I LOVE the crepe sandwiches sold on the street. Who knew China would have such awesome sandwiches? Really. Who knew? I mean I think China keeps those things a secret on purpose or something.
Crepe conspiracy?! This is deeper and darker than I imagined…
I’ve never heard of Old Beijing Yogurt and now I want some!
I did find that there were a lot of ‘yogurt drinks’ in Korea. They were obsessed with drinking yogurt! Pretty addictive stuff as well.
Bwahaha– my brainwashing has worked. Now I’m curious about the Korean yogurt drinks…
I love this stuff! I didn’t know about not taking the container either. The man screamed at me in words I don’t understand and I eventually figured out that I had to finish it and leave it there. Great stuff though.
Ha! It’s so against American beverage culture, isn’t it?
I’ve got a little more time in China… what other foods must I try? (Do not answer “chicken feet.” There is an article coming on that very soon, if I’m able to post the photos without fainting.)
Iceland has amazing yogurt, as well! They call their version “Skyr” and it was one of my favorite foods there. It’s thick – kind of like a thicker Greek yogurt. It comes in every flavor imaginable, and is considered “health” food there!
Drooooool… A compelling reason to visit Iceland, beyond just hot springs swimming and volcano viewing…