The name of the product originates from Armenian matz (sour, glue).[16] The etymology is provided by Grigor Magistros, in his Definition of grammar (11th century).[17]
The Armenian immigrants Sarkis and Rose Colombosian, who started "Colombo and Sons Creamery" in Andover, Massachusetts, in 1929,[20][21] introduced Matzoon around New England in a horse-drawn wagon inscribed with the Armenian word "madzoon," which was later changed to "yogurt", the Turkish language name of the product, as Turkish was the lingua franca between immigrants of the various Near Eastern ethnicities who were the main consumers at that time.[22]
On 24 January 2012, Georgia registered a geographical indication on "matsoni".[13][15][14] In 2022, Georgia banned the export of Armenian "matsun" yogurt to Russia via its territory.[15][14] The Armenia-based company later relabeled its product as "Armenian Mountain Yoghurt".[14]
InArmenian cuisine, matzoon can be strained to obtain kamats matzoon. Traditionally, it was produced for long-term preservation by draining matzoon in cloth sacks. Afterwards it was stored in leather sacks or clay pots for a month or more depending on the degree of salting.[23]
Matzoon is used for the production of butter. When it is churned it separates from the buttermilk (Armenian: թան, tan). The tan can be further dried and the resulting product is known as chortan.[24]
Matzoon can be mixed with eggs and equal amounts of wheat flour and starch to produce tarhana. Small pieces of dough are dried and then kept in glass containers. They are used mostly in soups, dissolving in hot liquids.[25]
^Joseph A. Kurmann; Jeremija Lj Rašić; Manfred Kroger (1992). Encyclopedia of fermented fresh milk products: an international inventory of fermented milk, cream, buttermilk, whey, and related products. Springer. p. 212. ISBN978-0-442-00869-7. Matzoon (En); mazun (Fr, De); matsun, matsoni, maconi. Short Description: Of Armenian origin; Georgia, Caucasus (USSR); traditional product; the milk of ewes, goats, buffalo, or cows or mixtures thereof; yoghurtlike product traditionally made from boiled milk and an undefined starter culture; firm consistency and acidic flavor. Microbiology: Traditional product made with undefined starter culture consisting of thermophilic and mesophilic lactic streptococci and thermophilic lactobacilli, and often with yeasts. Starter culture with defined microflora: proposed Streptococcus thermophilus and Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus.
^Kirk, Lawrence Eldred (1948). Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. p. 12. Matzoon or mazun, originating in Armenia. A lactobacillus (L. mazun), a streptococcus, a spore-producing bacillus and a sugar- fermenting yeast are responsible for the fermentation of this product.
^"Fermented milk". Columbia Encyclopedia (6 ed.). Columbia University Press. Retrieved January 2, 2019.
^"Matzoon, mat-soon". The Encyclopedia Americana. Vol. 18. Americana Corp. 1977. p. 446. ISBN978-0-7172-0108-2. "a milk food used in Armenia; prepared by exposing milk in open vessels to a heat of 90°F., and when coagulation takes place the curd is broken up by a churning process and salt is added".
^Goldstein, Darra (1999). The Georgian Feast: The Vibrant Culture and Savory Food of the Republic of Georgia. University of California Press. p. 34.
^ abByers, Branden (2014). The Everyday Fermentation Handbook: A Real-Life Guide to Fermenting Food. p. 66. Matsoni, also known as Caspian Sea yogurt, this mesophilic yogurt comes from the region now known as Georgia
^ abKenji Uchida; Tadasu Urashima; Nino Chaniashvili; Ikiti Arai; Hidemasa Motoshima (2007). "Major microbiota of lactic acid bacteria from Matsoni, a traditional Georgian fermented milk". Animal Science Journal. 78: 85. doi:10.1111/j.1740-0929.2006.00409.x.
^ abNicholas Adontz, «Дионисий Фракийский и армянские толкователи.», Saint Petersburg, 1915, p. 228.『Մածուն քանզի մածեալ է, սոյնպէս և անուանի.』Approximate translation: "Matzoon, since it's gluey, hence it is called so."
^С. А. Арутюнов, Т. А. Воронина. Традиционная пища как выражение этнического самосознания, стр. 120—125. Наука, 2001 [S. A. Arutyunov, T. A. Voronina. Traditional Food as an Expression of Ethnic Self-Consciousness, pp. 120-125. Nauka publishers, 2001; in Russian]
