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Fermentation Atlas

Fermented milk from Mongolia, Inner Mongolia, Buryatia

Isgelen taragисгэлэн тараг

fizzy, lightly alcoholic sour milk drink; the cattle-milk counterpart of airag. Made in 3 steps over 24 h. The longest step, ferment with regular stirring (buluur masher), takes 24 h (Uchida K 2007). Lactobacillus helveticus and Lactobacillus kefiri do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step24 hReported[uchida-hirata2007][mongolfood][wp]Ferment with regular stirring (buluur masher)
Temperature100 °CReported[uchida-hirata2007][mongolfood][wp]Boil milk (often after skimming off urum)
AciditypH 6.6Reported[uchida-hirata2007][mongolfood][wp]Boil milk (often after skimming off urum)

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedWhat goes in. No source gives amounts for this ferment.
boiled cow or yak milk
less often goat or sheep; mostly the low-fat milk left after making urum (clotted cream)
Starter: backslop: culture kept from the last batch

Total time across the recorded steps: 24 h

Start
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100 °CpH 6.6

What changes: The milk is boiled, often after its cream is skimmed off

Step 1 of 3
Boil milk (often after skimming off urum)
Time
to the boil
Unconfirmed
Temperature
100 °C
Reported
Salt
None given
Acidity
pH 6.6
Reported
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactic acid bacteria
Yeasts

Output: boiled skim milk.

Flavour
cooked
Texture
thin, low fat
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

killed

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

Variants

  • Tarag (set)Round-1 `tarag` is the quiet, felt-wrapped set yoghurt; isgelen tarag is stirred like airag and becomes alcoholic.

Safety

Low risk; alcoholic.

History and sources

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

Ruhlmann (2006) EHESS thesis on Khalkha food practices; Klein-Lecat & Le Jaquen 1979 (cited by en.wikipedia).

  1. [uchida-hirata2007] Uchida K., Hirata M., Motoshima H., Urashima T., Arai I., Microbiota of 'airag', 'tarag' and other kinds of fermented dairy products from nomad in Mongolia, Animal Science Journal 78 (2007), doi:10.1111/j.1740-0929.2007.00486.x (abstract via Europe PMC)paper
  2. [mongolfood] Mongolfood.info, Isgelen Tarag – Исгэлэн Тарагweb
  3. [wp] Wikipedia, Isgelen taragwiki