Dairy

Yakut Horse

B tier

Yakut horses of Siberia are extreme cold-adapted animals whose mares are milked for kumis-style fermented drinks central to Sakha food culture. Fresh mare milk is thin, quite sweet from high lactose, and low in fat compared with ruminant milks; fermentation transforms it into a fizzy, lightly alcoholic, yoghurt-tangy beverage. The breed’s survival in subzero winters makes dairy seasonal but culturally vital. Outside Sakha cuisine the milk is rare. When available it suits traditional fermentation more than cheese—horse milk does not set with rennet like cow milk. Modern interest in kumis health traditions occasionally brings Yakut mare milk into specialty fermentations.