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Drink

Koumiss, or Milk Beer

Koumiss is a fermented mare's milk beverage made with water and rennet or sour koumiss.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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Koumiss, or Milk Beer

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare and ferment

  1. Dilute the fresh mare's milk with water.

  2. Add rennet or sour koumiss to the mixture.

  3. Cover and let it sit in a warm place for 24 hours.

Churn and rest

  1. Stir or churn the mixture until the curd and whey are well combined.

  2. Let it rest for another 24 hours.

  3. Agitate the mixture in a tall vessel until it is homogeneous.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

What each ingredient does

Mare's milk
Forms the base that curdles and separates into curd and whey during fermentation.
Rennet or sour koumiss
Starts the milk curdling, or adds cultures that sour and thicken it.

The step that matters

Stirring or churning the curd and whey. Mixing breaks up the curd so it blends evenly with the whey. If the mixture is under-mixed, lumps of curd remain and the drink does not become smooth.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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