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Fermented milk from Japan

Caspian Sea yoghurtカスピ海ヨーグルト

Caspian Sea yoghurt is a Japanese home yoghurt grown from a culture brought back from Georgia. It sets at room temperature, 20–30 °C, rather than at yoghurt heat, and its stringy texture comes from exopolysaccharide made by Lactococcus lactis subsp. cremoris FC, which lives with an Acetobacter orientalis strain.

DocumentedFermented milk30 h – 5 days

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceA home recipe for a 500 ml jar using a commercial starter set.
Cow milk500 ml[delish]
Dried starter culture (first batch)3 gLater batches use about 50 g of the last yoghurt per 500 ml of milk[delish]
Starterbackslop; a commercial dried starter for the first batch

Total time across the recorded steps: 30 h – 5 days

Start
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shapes, not to countLactococcus lactis

What changes: The starter is stirred into the milk in a clean jar

Step 1 of 3
Mix the starter into the milk
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactococcus lactis
Lactococcus

Half the milk goes in first, then the starter, then the rest of the milk. Output: inoculated milk.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

Not documented for this step.

Method

Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source

At a glance

Caspian Sea yoghurt is a Japanese home yoghurt grown from a culture brought back from Georgia. It sets at room temperature, 20–30 °C, rather than at yoghurt heat, and its stringy texture comes from exopolysaccharide made by Lactococcus lactis subsp. cremoris FC, which lives with an Acetobacter orientalis strain. Made in 3 steps over 30 h – 5 days. The longest step, set at room temperature, takes 24 h – 3 days (Delish Kitchen) and runs at 20–30 °C (Delish Kitchen). Lactococcus lactis subsp. cremoris strain FC, which makes the exopolysaccharide does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step24 h – 3 daysReported[delish]Set at room temperature
Temperature20–30 °CReported[delish]Set at room temperature

What makes this one different

Unlike thermophilic yoghurt, it sets at 20–30 °C with a mesophilic lactococcus, and the stringy texture comes from that strain's exopolysaccharide.

Related ferments

Safety

Above 30 °C in summer or below 20 °C in winter it may not set well at room temperature, so the temperature should be adjusted. The recipe has you boil the jar and spoon first and chill the yoghurt once it has set.

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

Yukio Yamori, a longevity-diet researcher, brought the yoghurt back from Georgia while visiting for the WHO CARDIAC study; the culture now sold in Japan descends from it.

  1. [ishida2005] Ishida T., Yokota A., Umezawa Y., Toda T., Yamada K. 2005, Identification and characterization of lactococcal and Acetobacter strains isolated from traditional Caucasusian fermented milk, Journal of Nutritional Science and Vitaminology 51:187–193 (abstract)paper
  2. [gotoh2020] Gotoh Y. et al. 2020, A dose-finding study for a supplement containing Lactococcus lactis subsp. cremoris FC in healthy adults with mild constipation, Bioscience of Microbiota, Food and Health 39(1):19–22 (FC origin and exopolysaccharide)paper
  3. [kiryu2009] Kiryu T., Kiso T., Nakano H., Ooe K., Kimura T., Murakami H. 2009, Involvement of Acetobacter orientalis in the production of lactobionic acid in Caucasian yogurt ("Caspian Sea yogurt") in Japan, Journal of Dairy Science 92:25–34 (abstract)paper
  4. [delish] Delish Kitchen, カスピ海ヨーグルトの作り方 (home recipe with a Fujicco starter set)web
  5. [fujicco2022] Fujicco press release 2022-08-09 on the Caspian Sea lactic bacterium (origin in Georgia, brought back by Yukio Yamori)web