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Fermentation Atlas

Fermented milk from Denmark

Ymerymer

Skimmed milk is heated, cooled to room warmth and soured overnight with a buttery mesophilic culture. The curd is then warmed so that about half of its whey drains off, and cream is blended back in. Danish law reserves the name for soured milk with at least 5.6 % protein and 3.5 % fat. Made in 4 steps over 18 h – 20 h. The longest step, cool, add the culture and sour overnight, takes 16–18 h (NPSelection 2018) and runs at 19–23 °C (NPSelection 2018). Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis biovar diacetylactis and Leuconostoc mesenteroides subsp. cremoris do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step16–18 hReported[yogurtathome]Cool, add the culture and sour overnight
Temperature19–23 °CReported[yogurtathome]Cool, add the culture and sour overnight
Fully documentedFermented milk18 h – 20 hMore fermented milkMore from Denmark

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedIndustrial dairy product. The Danish milk-products order fixes the result (at least 5.6 % protein and 3.5 % fat), not the batch amounts.
Skimmed milk[snl][yogurtathome]
Mesophilic aroma culture (Lactococcus and Leuconostoc)[snl]
Cream · Blended in after about half the volume has left as whey[snl][yogurtathome]
Starter: defined culture (mesophilic aroma culture)

Total time across the recorded steps: 18 h – 20 h

Start
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90–95 °C

What changes: Skimmed milk is heated to 90–95 °C for about 3 minutes

Step 1 of 4
Heat the skimmed milk
Time
3 min
Reported
Temperature
90–95 °C
Reported
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactococcus lactis
L. mesenteroides

Output: heated skim milk.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
whey proteins denatured
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

most bacteria killed

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

What makes this one different

Ymer is soured like Danish tykmælk with a mesophilic culture, but part of the whey is then drained off and cream added, so it is thicker and higher in protein.

Related ferments

Variants

  • YletteLow-fat ymer, 1.5–1.8 % fat and still at least 5.6 % protein.
  • SkummetmælksymerSkim-milk ymer, at most 0.5 % fat.

Safety

The milk is heated to 90–95 °C before the culture goes in, and the finished product is soured to about pH 4.5, so it is a low-risk dairy product. It is kept chilled.

History and sources

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

Ymer was launched commercially in the 1930s; in 1937 the dairyman E. Larsen of Hatting registered the name, and other dairies took it up. Early ymer was whole milk soured with Lactococcus lactis, while today filtered skimmed milk is usual (Wikipedia). The name comes from Ymir, the being of Norse myth fed by four rivers of milk.

  1. [dk-bek195] Bekendtgørelse om mælkeprodukter m.v., BEK nr. 195 af 27. februar 2023 (Danish order on milk products), § 25 stk. 7 and Bilag 3spec
  2. [codex-243] Codex Alimentarius, Standard for Fermented Milks, CXS 243-2003, section 2.2 (concentrated fermented milks, among them ymer and ylette)spec
  3. [snl] Aursnes J.P., Ymer, Store norske leksikon (updated 2024)book
  4. [yogurtathome] NPSelection 2018, Fermented milk products from all over the world, ymer (Denmark), yogurtathome.comweb
  5. [wp] Wikipedia, Ymer (dairy product) (outline; history and name)wiki