In Praise of “Kos”

“Kos” is “yogurt” in Albanian. Like other countries in this part of the world, yogurt isn’t necessarily something fruity. In the Albanian kitchen, it’s usually served to complement rice or in combination with a lighter dinner, perhaps composed of bread, cheese and tomato. Americans use it as a substitute for sour cream or as a catch-all for any dairy product we may be missing. Really, its uses are limitless. I’ve discovered a previously unknown capacity to eat it whenever, wherever and for any reason, especially since it’s always around.

My host mom makes our yogurt, which was something that used to surprise and amaze all PCVs when we first moved here. Kate had a discussion with my counterpart about making yogurt during counterpart conference last year. As my counterpart was describing the process (heat the milk, add some old yogurt), we jokingly and continuously kept asking her, “Yes, but how do you get the first kos? Where does the first yogurt come from?” The real answer is “buy some from the store,” but Kate and I were trying to imagine the very first yogurt. How did they make it if there was no previous yogurt to add to the mix?

My host mom uses “farmer milk,” which I’ve addressed in previous posts. It’s strained to get out any pieces of anything and then boiled. Afterwards, about 2 tablespoons of previous yogurt are added and the yogurt container is covered with a bunch of plastic bags and paper towels to keep the heat in while the cultures grow. It’s really very simple.

Albanians will tell you to eat yogurt because it’s good for you and it will make you skinny. I don’t know about that, but it’s definitely delicious. What’s even better than regular dairy is sheep’s milk, which also comes from the village farmers. It’s incredibly rich and has a more solid consistency… and definitely an acquired taste.

Having laughed about the differences in animal sounds before (Albanian roosters have the European “kikerik,” and dogs “hahm,”) we had another laugh about kos dele, or sheep’s yogurt. My host dad pushed the yogurt container towards me and said, “Eat some, it’s kos beh beh behhh.” I replied, “Oh, it’s kos lope (dairy yogurt)?” He just shook his head.