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Fermentation Atlas

Fermented milk from Mexico

Jocoquejocoque

Warm raw milk is strained into a clay pot and left in a cool place, or seeded with a little old jocoque, until lactic bacteria sour and set it within hours. It is stirred and salted as a sour drink, or the curd is cut and drained into a thick, spreadable white cheese-like cream. Made in 3 steps over 11 h – 3.3 days. The longest step, let it sour and set, takes 11 h – 3.3 days (López-Ramírez J.E 2017) and runs at 20–30 °C (Villegas de Gante A. 2005). Lactic acid bacteria and Probably Lactococcus lactis (incl. biovar diacetylactis), Leuconostoc and, in warmer ferments, Streptococcus thermophilus and Lactobacillus bulgaricus do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step11 h – 3.3 daysMeasured[lopez2017][villegas2005]Let it sour and set
Temperature20–30 °CReported[villegas2005]Let it sour and set
AciditypH 6.7 → 4.6Measured[lopez2017]Let it sour and set
Fully documentedFermented milk11 h – 3.3 daysMore fermented milkMore from Mexico

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceThe starter rate is from producers in the Altos de Jalisco who supplied the CIATEJ trial. Household jocoque has no fixed batch; the simplest version uses no starter at all.
Raw cow milk, still warm from milking[villegas2005][lopez2017]
40 g per litre of milkJocoque from a previous batch · The producers' starter in the CIATEJ trial; Villegas de Gante suggests about 5 % for heated milk[lopez2017][villegas2005]
To tasteSalt (or sugar)[villegas2005]
Starterspontaneous | backslop | defined-culture

Total time across the recorded steps: 11 h – 3.3 days

Start
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What changes: Warm milk straight from milking is strained into a clay pot

Step 1 of 3
Strain warm raw milk into a clay pot
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactic acid bacteria

Output: strained raw 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

What makes this one different

Jocoque is Mexico's own soured milk, set by native lactic bacteria in raw milk in clay pots. The same name covers a soured milk, a sour cream and a drained curd, and the Lebanese-style jocoque árabe is a strained yoghurt like labneh.

Related ferments

Variants

  • Jocoque cremaCream skimmed from raw milk left to sour for several days in a cool place, then beaten lightly; made in parts of Michoacán and Jalisco.
  • Jocoque árabe (jocoque libanés)Plain yoghurt cut and drained for hours, like labneh; made with a bacteria-and-yeast culture the Lebanese community calls "búlgaros".
  • Jocoque secoDried, labneh-like jocoque eaten with flatbread or totopos.
  • Industrial jocoqueCultured-buttermilk style milk from mesophilic starters, sold under brand names.

Safety

Traditional jocoque uses raw milk. The definition in Mexico's General Health Law, as quoted by Villegas de Gante, requires pasteurised milk, no pathogens, at least 8.5 % milk solids and at least 0.65 % titratable acidity as lactic acid.

History and sources

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

The name comes from the Nahuatl xococ, "sour". Villegas de Gante traces the product possibly to the colonial period; jocoque árabe arrived with Lebanese immigrants.

  1. [lopez2017] López-Ramírez J.E., Mondragón-Cortez P.M., Villanueva-Rodríguez S.J., Orozco-Ávila I., Estarrón-Espinosa M., Chombo-Morales M.P. 2017, Efecto del tratamiento térmico y tipo de inóculo en las propiedades fisicoquímicas y microbiológicas del jocoque, 6o Congreso Internacional Biología, Química y Agronomía, Universidad Autónoma de Guadalajara (CIATEJ repository)paper
  2. [villegas2005] Villegas de Gante A. 2005, El jocoque, un lácteo fermentado revalorizable, Carnilac Industrial (Alfa Editores), February–March 2005 (archived copy; quotes Ley General de Salud art. 387)web
  3. [wp-es] Wikipedia (es), Jocoque (outline only)wiki