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Fermented milk from Beijing and North China

Lao Beijing suannai (pot-set yoghurt)老北京酸奶

Lao Beijing suannai is sweetened milk set as a yoghurt in small jars and drunk through a straw. Under China's national standard GB 19302-2025 a product called 酸乳 must be fermented with Streptococcus thermophilus and Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus; sweetened kinds fall under flavoured fermented milk, with at least 60.0 °T acidity.

A short entry: the sources we found record only what is said here about Lao Beijing suannai itself.

Short entryFermented milk

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedIndustrial and small-dairy product with no published recipe. The national standard sets the product, not the amounts.
Raw cow's milk, concentrated milk or milk powderAt least 80 % milk base for a flavoured fermented milk[gb19302]
SugarNo amount found in a source
Starter of Streptococcus thermophilus and Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus[gb19302]
Starterdefined culture of S. thermophilus and L. delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus
Start
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What changes: The milk is sweetened and heated before the starter goes in

Step 1 of 3
Sweeten and heat the milk
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
S. thermophilus
L. delbrueckii

Output: sweetened, heat-treated milk.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

heat kills the milk's own bacteria

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

Lao Beijing suannai is sweetened milk set as a yoghurt in small jars and drunk through a straw. Under China's national standard GB 19302-2025 a product called 酸乳 must be fermented with Streptococcus thermophilus and Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus; sweetened kinds fall under flavoured fermented milk, with at least 60.0 °T acidity. Streptococcus thermophilus and Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus do most of the fermenting.

What makes this one different

Set and sold in the jar, sweetened before it sets, and drunk through a straw rather than eaten with a spoon.

Related ferments

Variants

  • Nailao (奶酪) and Yunnan rushanNailao is milk set with rice wine (jiuniang) and rushan is a cheese; both are boundary relatives only.

History and sources

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

The Qimin Yaoshu (6th century) already gives a recipe for soured milk, lao (酪), set overnight with old lao as the starter.

  1. [gb19302] GB 19302-2025, National food safety standard, Fermented milk (食品安全国家标准 发酵乳), issued 16 March 2025, in force 16 September 2025; copy on the Fuzhou market regulator's sitespec
  2. [qmys-ws] Jia Sixie, Qimin Yaoshu (6th century), vol. 6, ch. 57, 作酪法; Chinese text on Wikisourcearchive