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Fermented milk from Mongolia, Inner Mongolia

Airagайраг

Airag is Mongolian fermented mare milk, a mildly alcoholic, sour and fizzy drink. Fresh mare milk is mixed with old airag at about 20 % in a bag made of animal hide and beaten regularly while it ferments at 20–30 °C. Lactobacilli turn the milk sugar into lactic acid and yeasts make alcohol and carbon dioxide; Ulaanbaatar samples held 1.44–2.33 % alcohol.

Fully documentedFermented milk24 h – 2 days

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceNo fixed batch size is given in the sources; the starter rate is about 20 % old airag (Choi 2016).
Fresh mare milkUnpasteurised[choi2016]
Old airag, as starterAbout 20 % of the milkAirag made the previous year or freshly made airag[choi2016]
Starterbackslop: about 20 % old airag

Total time across the recorded steps: 24 h – 2 days

Start
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What changes: Starting material: fresh raw mare milk

Step 1 of 4
Collect fresh mare milk
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactic acid bacteria
Yeasts

Output: fresh raw mare milk.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

Not documented for this step.

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

Airag is Mongolian fermented mare milk, a mildly alcoholic, sour and fizzy drink. Fresh mare milk is mixed with old airag at about 20 % in a bag made of animal hide and beaten regularly while it ferments at 20–30 °C. Lactobacilli turn the milk sugar into lactic acid and yeasts make alcohol and carbon dioxide; Ulaanbaatar samples held 1.44–2.33 % alcohol. Made in 4 steps over 24 h – 2 days. The longest step, beat regularly while it ferments, takes 24 h – 2 days (Guo L. et al. 2021) and runs at 20–30 °C (Choi S.-H. 2016). Lactobacillus helveticus and Yeasts do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step24 h – 2 daysReported[guo2021]Beat regularly while it ferments
Temperature20–30 °CReported[choi2016][guo2021]Beat regularly while it ferments
AciditypH up to 4Reported[choi2016]Beat regularly while it ferments

What makes this one different

Airag is made from mare milk, which is high in lactose, and it holds more alcohol than kefir (1.44–2.33 % against 0.5–1.0 %). It ferments in a hide bag with old airag as starter and is beaten regularly instead of being left to set.

Related ferments

Variants

  • Semi-industrial airagMare milk heated to 65 °C for 30 minutes, inoculated with a 20 % mixed yeast and bacteria culture, fermented 10–12 hours at 18–20 °C in special pans; keeps up to a week in a cool place.
  • Cow-milk "airag" (Xilin Gol, Inner Mongolia)In Xilin Gol the name airag is used for fermented cow milk; mare milk gives chigee. Its yeasts were mostly Dipodascus, with Naumovozyma, Dekkera and Pichia.

Safety

Choi 2016 says airag is made from unpasteurised mare milk, while a 1990 FAO sheet has the milk heated to 65 °C for 30 minutes first. Natural fermentation gives very variable lactose, alcohol and acid between samples (Choi 2016). The CDC says raw milk and products made from it can carry Campylobacter, Cryptosporidium, E. coli, Listeria, Brucella and Salmonella, and that children under 5, adults over 65, pregnant women and people with weakened immunity are at higher risk of serious illness.

History and sources

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

FAO's 1990 survey of traditional milk products describes airag as a traditional product of Mongolia, made for several centuries. Choi (2016) notes the tradition of drinking it as a staple in summer.

  1. [choi2016] Choi S.-H. 2016, Characterization of airag collected in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia with emphasis on isolated lactic acid bacteria, Journal of Animal Science and Technology 58:10, doi:10.1186/s40781-016-0090-8paper
  2. [guo2021] Guo L. et al. 2021, Comparative study of physicochemical composition and microbial community of Khoormog, Chigee and Airag, traditionally fermented dairy products from Xilin Gol in China, Food Science and Nutrition 9:1564, doi:10.1002/fsn3.2131paper
  3. [fao-tmp] FAO 1990, The technology of traditional milk products in developing countries, Animal Production and Health Paper 85, II. Acidified milks (Airag, Mongolia)gov
  4. [cdc-raw-milk] US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Raw Milk (31 January 2025)gov