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Fermented milk from Gobi

Khoormogхоормог

Khoormog is the sour, lightly alcoholic fermented camel milk of Mongol nomads. Raw camel milk is cooled, filtered through gauze and mixed with leftover khoormog, then left at 20–25 °C for one to two days while it is stirred up and down with a wooden stick.

Fully documentedFermented milk24 h – 2 days

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedNomads' household practice; the study gives times and temperature, not amounts.
Raw camel milkCooled naturally and filtered through layers of gauze[guo2021]
Leftover khoormog or a homemade starterBack-slopped into the new milk[guo2021]
Starterbackslop: leftover fermented product or homemade starter

Total time across the recorded steps: 24 h – 2 days

Start
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What changes: Raw camel milk cools and is strained through layers of gauze

Step 1 of 4
Cool and filter the camel milk
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactic acid bacteria
Yeasts
Lactobacilli

Output: filtered camel milk.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
liquid
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

raw-milk flora

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

Khoormog is the sour, lightly alcoholic fermented camel milk of Mongol nomads. Raw camel milk is cooled, filtered through gauze and mixed with leftover khoormog, then left at 20–25 °C for one to two days while it is stirred up and down with a wooden stick. Made in 4 steps over 24 h – 2 days. The longest step, ferment spontaneously, takes 24 h – 2 days (Guo L 2021) and runs at 20–25 °C (Guo L 2021). Lactobacillus and Lactobacillus kefiranofaciens (62.0 %) and L. helveticus (25.0 %) in 5 Mongolian samples do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step24 h – 2 daysReported[guo2021]Ferment spontaneously
Temperature20–25 °CReported[guo2021]Ferment spontaneously
AciditypH 3.4–5Measured[sarengaole2022]Ferment spontaneously

What makes this one different

Khoormog is the camel-milk member of the Mongol fermented milks. It has more solids, protein and fat than the mare's-milk chigee or the cow's-milk airag in the same Xilin Gol study, and less alcohol than chigee.

Related ferments

Variants

  • Chigee (mare, Xilin Gol)Mare milk; more lactose (4.2 %) and alcohol (0.5 %), less protein and fat; yeasts Dekkera and Kazachstania.

Safety

Khoormog is made from raw camel milk. Acidity, lactose and alcohol varied widely between samples in the Xilin Gol study.

History and sources

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

Oki and colleagues (2014) describe khoormog as a traditional, mildly alcoholic drink made from raw camel milk, one of the Mongolian nomads' ferments made in their gers by time-honoured methods without commercial starters; they sampled five khoormog in July 2004 in the Gobi provinces of Dundgobi and Umnugobi. Guo and colleagues (2021) call the natural fermentation an ancient technique used to extend the storage time of the milk.

  1. [guo2021] Guo L., Xu W., Li C., Guo Y., Yamei, Chagan I. 2021, Comparative study of physicochemical composition and microbial community of Khoormog, Chigee, and Airag, traditionally fermented dairy products from Xilin Gol in China, Food Science & Nutrition 9(3):1564–1573paper
  2. [oki2014] Oki K., Dugersuren J., Demberel S., Watanabe K. 2014, Pyrosequencing analysis of the microbial diversity of airag, khoormog and tarag, traditional fermented dairy products of Mongolia, Bioscience of Microbiota, Food and Health 33(2):53–64paper
  3. [sarengaole2022] Sarengaole, Chuluunbat T.-A., Bayinjirigala, Menghebilige 2022, Development technology of starter cultures using lactic acid bacteria isolated from fermented camel milk with cholesterol lowering ability, Mongolian Journal of Chemistry 23(49):38–50paper