Dairy

Mare

Mare’s-milk yoghurt and yoghurt-adjacent ferments come from horse milk, traditionally more often lightly alcoholic and effervescent (airag, kumis) than thick cup yoghurt, though modern dairies also set milder mare yoghurt-style products. Mare milk is low in fat and high in lactose relative to cow milk; fermentation produces a bright, refreshing acidity and a thin to lightly viscous body unless concentrated or blended. Treat authentic steppe ferments as drinkable cultured milks—chilled, sipped, sometimes lightly sparkling—rather than as Greek-style spoon yoghurt. Milder commercial mare yoghurt suits breakfast and digestive traditions in Central Asia and specialty European health shops. Heat carefully; the delicate protein structure does not behave like cow Greek in boiling sauces.

Also known as: Airag, Kumis / qymyz, Kymyz, Kumys, Stutenmilch-Joghurt (specialty)