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Soft drinks from Kyrgyzstan

Maksym and bozo (Kyrgyz cereal drinks)максым

Bozo and maksym are Kyrgyz cereal drinks soured by lactic acid bacteria and yeasts. For bozo, millet porridge is cooked, mashed with barley malt so the starch turns to sugar, fermented for about a day and strained; the authors' earlier bozo had about 4 % alcohol. Maksym is made from roasted, milled wheat or barley cooked in water and fermented with a starter. The steps and numbers in the main process are from studies of bozo; the maksym process is in its variant.

Fully documentedSoft drinks9 days

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceThe amounts are from lab studies of bozo; traditional bozo is made by experience at home and in crafts enterprises. The maksym recipe is given in its variant.
Millet flourCooked to a porridge; in one lab method 70 g of flour went into 500 g of water[iskakova2019]
Ground barley malt15 % of the porridge weight (w/w), in one studyThe source of the enzymes that turn starch to sugar; barley malt had the highest α-amylase activity of the barley, wheat, millet and maize malts tested[iskakova2019][iskakova2017]
Starter of yeast and lactic acid bacteriaSaccharomyces cerevisiae with Lactiplantibacillus plantarum, Pediococcus parvulus and Lacticaseibacillus casei in the study[iskakova2019]
Starterbackslop (maksym: 2 % w/v of the previous batch) or a mixed starter of yeast and lactic acid bacteria (the bozo study)

Total time across the recorded steps: 9 days

Start
Drag the bar or press Play
shapes, not to countSaccharomyces cerevisiaeL. plantarumPediococcus parvulusLacticaseibacillus casei20–22 °C

What changes: Barley is soaked, left to sprout and dried into malt

Step 1 of 5
Malt the barley
Time
up to 8 days
Reported
Temperature
20–22 °C
Reported
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Saccharomyces cerevisiae
L. plantarum
Pediococcus parvulus
Lacticaseibacillus casei
Yeasts

Output: dried barley malt, milled.

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

Bozo and maksym are Kyrgyz cereal drinks soured by lactic acid bacteria and yeasts. For bozo, millet porridge is cooked, mashed with barley malt so the starch turns to sugar, fermented for about a day and strained; the authors' earlier bozo had about 4 % alcohol. Maksym is made from roasted, milled wheat or barley cooked in water and fermented with a starter. The steps and numbers in the main process are from studies of bozo; the maksym process is in its variant. Made in 5 steps over 9 days. The longest step, malt the barley, takes up to 8 days (Iskakova J 2019) and runs at 20–22 °C (Iskakova J 2019). Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Lactiplantibacillus plantarum, Pediococcus parvulus and Lacticaseibacillus casei do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main stepup to 8 daysReported[iskakova2019]Malt the barley
Temperature20–22 °CReported[iskakova2019]Malt the barley

What makes this one different

Kyrgyz bozo is mashed with barley malt, so the malt's enzymes turn the millet starch to sugar before it ferments. Maksym needs no malt; it is a roasted, milled-grain gruel soured by a starter.

Related ferments

Variants

  • Maksym (максым)Roasted and milled wheat, barley or maize (talkan, roasted at 170–180 °C) is boiled in water (1:30 w/w) until the starch gelatinises, with roasted wheat flour and mutton fat for body. After about 50 min of boiling it cools to 25–30 °C, 2 % (w/v) of the previous batch is added, and it ferments for 12–14 h at 25–30 °C before cold storage. Methods differ by region.
  • JarmaA cold Kyrgyz grain drink. Wikipedia says it is not fermented and is often mixed with ayran; the 2023 maksym paper lists jarma among cereal beverages made by lactic fermentation.

Safety

Neither study counted pathogens. Bozo was stored at 4–6 °C and tested at 7, 14 and 21 days, and the authors note that fridge storage does not stop microbial growth. A maksym bought in Bishkek had pH 3.68, falling to 3.62 after 21 days at 5 °C, and its lactic acid bacteria and yeast counts fell by about 2 log units; the producer guaranteed 30 days, but the sour taste scored lowest at day 21. Bozo is classed as mild or strong by its ethanol content, and the authors' earlier bozo had 4 % alcohol by volume.

History and sources

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

Bozo is drunk across Central Asia and in China and is made at home in villages and in crafts enterprises by experience (Iskakova 2019). Maksym was traditionally made in every household in summer and drunk chilled; the paper links such long-keeping foods to the nomadic Kyrgyz way of life. The company Shoro later sold it as a commercial product, and many enterprises now make it (Iskakova and Smanalieva 2023).

  1. [iskakova2019] Iskakova J., Smanalieva J., Methner F.-J. 2019, Investigation of changes in rheological properties during processing of fermented cereal beverages, Journal of Food Science and Technology 56:3980–3987paper
  2. [iskakova2023] Iskakova J., Smanalieva J. 2023, Investigation of chemical, sensory, and rheological properties of Kyrgyz ethnic fermented beverage from cereals during cold storage, MANAS Journal of Engineering 11(1):105–111paper
  3. [iskakova2017] Iskakova J., Smanalieva J., Kulmyrzaev A., Fischer P., Methner F.-J. 2017, Comparison of rheological and colorimetric measurements to determine α-amylase activity for malt used for the beverage Bozo, International Journal of Food Properties 20:2060–2070 (abstract)paper
  4. [s-jarma] Wikipedia, Jarma (Kyrgyz beverage)wiki