The science behind yogurt
From the casein micelle to the cup
A hands-on professional course with Hod Yanover. How liquid milk becomes a characteristic yogurt, and what sets its sensory profile. Supported by the Foodlab yogurt simulator.
This course is taught in Hebrew.
📅 4–5 November 2026, two consecutive days 📍 Foodlab, Greenwork campus, Yakum 🧪 Hands-on in pairs
Details and registration
This is not a classroom. It is a lab.
Background
One milk, and so many kinds of yogurt. What lets the same raw material answer so many needs: indulgence, a range of flavours and textures, high protein levels?
The truth: every decision in the process shows up in the consumer's mouthfeel. Protein composition, pasteurization, the starter culture. The same final pH, a completely different texture.
This course does not teach a yogurt recipe. It teaches how to decide.
What will you learn?
Milk science and the start of production
- Milk and its proteins. Caseins versus whey proteins, and the micelle structure behind every texture.
- What happens at each process step. Heat treatment, homogenization, gelation, cooling and shelf life, with the simulator.
- Yogurt types. Set, stirred and strained. How each technology makes a different product.
- Hands-on lab work. Into the production process by hand, setting up the products that continue to tomorrow.
From process to sensory profile
- Picking up where we stopped. Back to yesterday's products, taking them to the finish line.
- Additions to the yogurt base. Milk proteins, sweeteners, colours and fruit preparations, and what they do to texture.
- Measuring texture like the industry. From the professional vocabulary to the instrument, on your own products.
- The big tasting. All products side by side, and a discussion of process versus sensory profile. About 70% of the day is hands-on.
The yogurt simulator
A Foodlab development that runs on your phone through the theory sessions. Change a parameter and see at once what it does to the product. Embedded by topic, and validated by tasting.
Plan. Develop. Make. Taste.
When, where and how
- Dates
- 4–5 November 2026, two consecutive days
- Sessions
- 2 sessions
- Location
- Foodlab, Greenwork campus, Yakum
Short optional preparatory material is sent before the course.
Hod Yanover
Dairy and milk-protein technology expert
Food engineer (Technion). More than 20 years in the R&D department of Tnuva's dairy division, with many new-product launches across categories. Then two years as CTO Innovation of the Tnuva group. Today co-founder and VP Food Development at NewMoo.
- 20+years of R&D at Tnuva dairy
- 5years in foodtech as co-founder at NewMoo
Who is it for?
Food technologists and R&D
Juniors who need dairy practice, and veterans who want a refresher.
Production and QA
Understand what really happens to the protein at each step of the line.
Foodtech entrepreneurs
New proteins and fermentation, meeting reality.
Marketing and ingredient suppliers
Speak the language of your technical customer.
Frequently asked
Do I have to attend both days?
Yes. It is a continuous course: what you set up on day one keeps working overnight, and day two is built entirely on those products.
I do not come from dairy. Is it for me?
Yes. Day one opens with milk composition and its proteins, a full level-set before going deeper.
What should I bring?
Nothing. Raw materials, lab equipment, aprons and workstations are on us.
Are the materials kosher?
Yes. All raw materials used in the course are kosher, and the course is entirely dairy.
What does the price include?
Both full sessions, use of the lab and the simulator, all raw materials, the preparatory material, and the products and analyses you take home or to the plant.
Details and registration
Two consecutive days. One lab in Yakum. You will not look at a cup of yogurt the same way again. Seats are deliberately limited.