Kumis
Kumis, also spelled
kumiss or
koumiss in English is a fermented dairy product traditionally made from mare's milk. The drink remains important to the peoples of the Central Asian steppes, of Huno-Bulgar, Turkic and Mongol origin: Bashkirs, Kalmyks, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, Mongols, Uyghurs, and Yakuts.
Kumis is a dairy product similar to
kefir, but is produced from a liquid starter culture, in contrast to the solid
kefir "grains". Because mare's milk contains more sugars than cow's or goat's milk, when fermented,
kumis has a higher, though still mild, alcohol content compared to
kefir. Even in the areas of the world where
kumis is popular today, mare's milk remains a very limited commodity. Industrial-scale production, therefore, generally uses cow's milk, which is richer in fat and protein, but lower in lactose than the milk from a horse. Before fermentation, the cow's milk is fortified in one of several ways. Sucrose may be added to allow a comparable fermentation. Another technique adds modified whey to better approximate the composition of mare's milk.