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Fermented milk from Finland

Piimä and kirnupiimäpiimä

Piimä is a Finnish soured-milk drink, sour in taste and thicker than milk. Kirnupiimä is the buttermilk left when soured cream is churned into butter. In dairies the milk is pasteurised and then soured in a tank at about 18–24 °C for 15–24 hours.

A short entry: the sources we found record only what is said here about Piimä and kirnupiimä itself. Its own sources do not record how it is made, so the steps and scenes below are those of Viili, the closest documented fermented milk ferment, shown as a guide to the method, not as a record of Piimä and kirnupiimä.

Short entryFermented milk15 h – 24 h

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedWhat goes in. No source gives amounts for this ferment.
milk (piimä); the buttermilk left from churning soured cream (kirnupiimä)
Starterdairy starter cultures (hapatteet)

Total time across the steps of Viili: 36 h – 44 h

Start
Drag the bar or press Play
shapes, not to countLactic acid bacteria25–30 °CpH 6.4–6.6 → 4.27

What changes: A dried viili starter is revived by passing it through fresh milk

Step 1 of 4 · steps of Viili
Revive a dried starter in milk
Time
20 h
Reported
Temperature
25–30 °C
Reported
Salt
None given
Acidity
pH 6.4–6.6 → 4.27
Measured
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactic acid bacteria
Geotrichum candidum
Yeasts

A laboratory protocol. The dry starter is added at 5 % (w/v) to sterilised milk, then moved into fresh sterilised milk after each round; after three more transfers it counted as active. Output: active viili starter.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
liquid to soured milk
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

lactic bacteria in the dry starter multiply, reaching about 9 log cfu/g after the first transfer

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

Piimä is a Finnish soured-milk drink, sour in taste and thicker than milk. Kirnupiimä is the buttermilk left when soured cream is churned into butter. In dairies the milk is pasteurised and then soured in a tank at about 18–24 °C for 15–24 hours. The longest step, ferment milk or buttermilk, takes 15–24 h (Wikipedia (fi)) and runs at 18–24 °C (Wikipedia (fi)).

Key numbers
Main step15–24 hReported[wp-fi]Ferment milk or buttermilk
Temperature18–24 °CReported[wp-fi]Ferment milk or buttermilk

What makes this one different

Piimä is thinner than filmjölk, and kirnupiimä is the by-product of churning soured cream into butter rather than a milk soured whole.

Related ferments

Variants

  • KirnupiimäThe buttermilk left when soured cream is churned into butter; dairies now lower its fat by adding fat-free piimä.
  • Industrial piimäMade in dairies from standardised, homogenised, high-pasteurised milk soured with starter cultures.
  • Pitkäpiimä (western Finland)The western Finnish piimä culture; the east has kokkelipiimä.

Safety

Low risk.

History and sources

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

  1. [wp] Wikipedia, Filmjölk (piimä is the thinner Finnish product)wiki
  2. [wp-fi] Wikipedia (fi), Piimäwiki