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Fermented milk from Himalayan India and Nepal

Somarsomar

Somar is a fermented buttermilk product of the Himalayas, made from yak or cow's milk. A study of Himalayan ethnic milk products isolated Lactobacillus paracasei and Lactococcus lactis from it; no published source found gives its making process in detail.

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

Short entryFermented milk

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedNo recipe or amounts were found.
Buttermilk from yak or cow's milk[tamang2016]

Total time across the steps of Soft chhurpi: 45 min – 1 h

Start
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shapes, not to countLactic acid bacteriapH 4.1–4.3Milk sugarLactic acid

What changes: Boiled milk sours into a set curd

Step 1 of 5 · steps of Soft chhurpi
Sour the milk into dahi
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
pH 4.1–4.3
Measured
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactic acid bacteria

Output: dahi.

Flavour
sour
Texture
set curd
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

lactic bacteria sour the milk; a little earlier dahi is sometimes added

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

Somar is a fermented buttermilk product of the Himalayas, made from yak or cow's milk. A study of Himalayan ethnic milk products isolated Lactobacillus paracasei and Lactococcus lactis from it; no published source found gives its making process in detail. Lactobacillus paracasei and Lactococcus lactis do most of the fermenting.

What makes this one different

Somar is made from buttermilk, the liquid left after churning, not from whole milk like dahi.

Related ferments

History and sources

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

  1. [dewan2007] Dewan S., Tamang J.P. 2007, Dominant lactic acid bacteria and their technological properties isolated from the Himalayan ethnic fermented milk products, Antonie van Leeuwenhoek 92:343–352 (abstract)paper
  2. [tamang2016] Tamang J.P., Watanabe K., Holzapfel W.H. 2016, Review, Diversity of microorganisms in global fermented foods and beverages, Frontiers in Microbiology 7:377, Table 1 (somar row)paper