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Cheese from China, Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

Qula (Tibetan dried yak curd, China)曲拉

Yak milk, usually skimmed after butter making but sometimes whole, is soured naturally, often with a little finished product or sour milk added, until the casein sets. The curd is drained of whey, broken into grains and dried in the open sun into white or yellow granules with about 7–12 % moisture and, in one study, some 80 % protein, a food that keeps for years and is the main raw material for yak casein.

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedHerders' practice with no fixed amounts.
Skimmed yak milk, or occasionally whole yak milk[li2023][fao-yak2003]
A small amount of finished qula or sour milk to start the souring[li2023][fao-yak2003]
Starterback-slopping with a little finished product or sour milk

Total time across the recorded steps: 3.1 days

Start
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What changes: Starting material: yak milk skimmed after butter making

Step 1 of 4
Skim the yak milk
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Acetobacter
Lactobacillus
Saccharomyces
Leuconostoc
Lactococcus

Cream is taken off by a cream separator or for ghee; some qula is made from whole raw 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

Yak milk, usually skimmed after butter making but sometimes whole, is soured naturally, often with a little finished product or sour milk added, until the casein sets. The curd is drained of whey, broken into grains and dried in the open sun into white or yellow granules with about 7–12 % moisture and, in one study, some 80 % protein, a food that keeps for years and is the main raw material for yak casein. Made in 4 steps over 3.1 days. The longest step, sour until the casein sets, takes 2 days (Wang J 2022) and runs at 20–25 °C (Wang J 2022). Lactococcus, Lactobacillus and Acetobacter, the dominant bacteria in Tibetan qula and Acetobacter, Lactobacillus and Saccharomyces during fermentation; Leuconostoc and Lactococcus during sun-drying, in Gannan qula do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step2 daysReported[wang2022]Sour until the casein sets
Temperature20–25 °CReported[wang2022][fao-yak2003]Sour until the casein sets

What makes this one different

Qula is the Chinese name for Tibetan dried yak curd. Unlike pressed cheeses it is soured without rennet, drained and dried loose in the sun as grains, and much of it now goes to industry as casein.

Composition
White or yellow grains with 7–12 % moisture and about 80 % protein, as one 2018 study reports; the FAO yak book gives about 55 % protein for dried milk residue
Use
More than 90 % of casein in China is purified from qula

Related ferments

Safety

Drying is what preserves it. Open sun-drying depends on the weather and exposes the curd to dust, insects and birds, and studies note it is made from unpasteurised milk in open conditions.

History and sources

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

Qula has been made and eaten in Yunnan, Xizang, Qinghai, Gansu and Sichuan for thousands of years, according to a 2018 study. Because yak milk is scattered over many farms, it is often made into qula on local yak farms. Today it is usually collected and sent to factories to make yak milk casein.

  1. [zhu2018] Zhu Y., Cao Y., Yang M. et al. 2018, Bacterial diversity and community in Qula from the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau in China, PeerJ 6:e6044paper
  2. [wang2022] Wang J., Wang L., Wang L., Han L., Chen L., Tang S., Wen P. 2022, Response Surface Optimization of Solar Drying Conditions and the Effect on the Quality Attributes and Drying Characteristics of Qula Casein, Foods 11(16):2406paper
  3. [huang2025] Huang X., Li R., Zhang L., Chen X., Gong X., Kang J. 2025, Exploring the rare and abundant bacterial community structures and their metabolic differences in various types of qula cheese, Food Research International (abstract)paper
  4. [zhang2026] Zhang J., Zhong L., Jia Z. et al. 2026, Analysis of the correlation between microbial community succession and volatile flavor compounds during the processing of Gannan Yak Qula, International Journal of Food Microbiology (abstract)paper
  5. [li2023] Li A., Liu C., Han X. et al. 2023, Tibetan Plateau yak milk, a comprehensive review of nutritional values, health benefits, and processing technology, Food Chemistry X 20:100919paper
  6. [fao-yak2003] Wiener G., Han J., Long R. 2003, The Yak, 2nd edition, chapter 10 Products from yak and their utilization, FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacificbook