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Cheese from Kazakhstan

Qurt (Kazakh)құрт

Milk is soured into a thick fermented base, drained of whey by hanging or light pressing, salted, rolled into small balls and dried hard in shade, sun and wind. A Kazakh study following the standard scheme soured pasteurised skim milk with a thermophilic culture to pH 4.6–4.7, pressed it 10–12 hours, added 1.0–1.5 % salt and dried the balls at 35–40 °C to 10–13 % moisture.

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceAmounts follow the standard technological scheme used in a 2026 Kazakh study; home makers use no fixed recipe.
Skimmed milk (kurt is traditionally made from cow, goat, or occasionally sheep, camel or mare milk)[kalib2026][tuganbay2026]
Thermophilic lactic culture (Streptococcus thermophilus and Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus) in the study3–5 %[kalib2026]
Salt1.0–1.5 % of the massTraditional makers may mix in salt or butter[kalib2026][tuganbay2026]
Startera thermophilic yogurt-type culture (Streptococcus thermophilus and Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus) in the study's standard scheme

Total time across the recorded steps: 16 h – 20 h

Start
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72–75 °C

What changes: The skimmed milk is heated and cooled before souring

Step 1 of 5
Heat the milk
Time
Not documented
Temperature
72–75 °C
Reported
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
S. thermophilus
L. delbrueckii
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

Milk is soured into a thick fermented base, drained of whey by hanging or light pressing, salted, rolled into small balls and dried hard in shade, sun and wind. A Kazakh study following the standard scheme soured pasteurised skim milk with a thermophilic culture to pH 4.6–4.7, pressed it 10–12 hours, added 1.0–1.5 % salt and dried the balls at 35–40 °C to 10–13 % moisture. Made in 5 steps over 16 h – 20 h. The longest step, drain the whey, takes 10–12 h (Kalibekkyzy Z 2026). Salt is 1–1.5 % (Kalibekkyzy Z 2026). Streptococcus thermophilus and Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus, the starter of the study's standard scheme does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step10–12 hReported[kalib2026][tuganbay2026]Drain the whey
Temperature72–75 °CReported[kalib2026]Heat the milk
Salt1–1.5 %Reported[kalib2026]Salt and roll into balls
AciditypH 4.6–4.7Reported[kalib2026]Sour the milk

What makes this one different

Kazakh qurt is salted and dried hard in small balls; in Kazakhstan it is now also made with herbs, plant extracts, dried fruit or nuts, or smoked.

Acidity
pH 3.47–4.22 across the study's four formulations (a plain control and three enriched variants), close to the 4.01–4.35 reported for naturally fermented kurut
Storage
A 2026 study says its dried kurt, packed airtight at 0–6 °C, keeps its quality parameters for up to 12 months; another 2026 paper, citing earlier work, says sun-dried kurut can be stored for several years

Related ferments

Safety

Drying to low moisture and high acidity keeps it. The study's dried kurt had water activity 0.595–0.719 and low microbial counts, while surveys of traditional kurut elsewhere found E. coli and S. aureus in some samples.

History and sources

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

Kurt was a vital food for nomadic communities because it keeps long, is nutrient-dense and is easy to store and carry; in the dry continental climate of Kazakhstan its high salt content is said to make up for electrolytes lost through sweat and exertion. In Kazakhstan, where shipping fresh milk to a plant is hard, ranchers make kurut in a semisolid or dried form to extend its shelf life.

  1. [kalib2026] Kalibekkyzy Z., Zhakupbekova S., Rebezov M., Nurgazezova A. et al. 2026, Valorization of Dairy and Plant By-Products as Functional Ingredients in Kurt (Dried Fermented Milk Product), Foods 15(2):369paper
  2. [tuganbay2026] Tuganbay A., Yousefvand A., Kolsi A., Zhang D., Saris P.E.J. 2026, Kluyveromyces marxianus KLU1 Increases the Cell Density and Survival of Lacticaseibacillus rhamnosus GG in Dried Kurut, Molecular Nutrition & Food Research (introduction)paper
  3. [tuganbay2022] Tuganbay A., Yousefvand A., Saris P.E.J. 2022, Production of kurut (kurt) using probiotic Lacticaseibacillus rhamnosus GG strain in combination with a yeast isolated from Kazakhstan kurut, Frontiers in Food Science and Technology 2:1045579 (introduction)paper