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Fermented milk from Finland

Viiliviili

Milk is seeded with viili starter and left undisturbed at about 20 °C for most of a day. Slime-making lactococci set it into a ropy gel, and the mould Geotrichum candidum grows a velvety skin on top.

Fully documentedFermented milk36 h – 44 h

Recipe

Viili, a photo from Wikimedia Commons
Photo: JP001, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Amounts from a sourceProportions only. The 5 % starter rate is from a laboratory activation protocol, not a household recipe.
Cow milk[yamane2021]
Viili starter, dried natural starter or a spoon of viili5 % (w/v) to activate a dry starterIn the study, dry starters were incubated 20 h in sterile milk, transferred to fresh milk, then sub-cultured three more times until active[rampanti2024]
Starterbackslop (dried natural starter or a spoon of viili), or a defined culture

Total time across the recorded steps: 36 h – 44 h

Start
Drag the bar or press Play
shapes, not to countLactic acid bacteria25–30 °CpH 6.4–6.6 → 4.27

What changes: A dried viili starter is revived by passing it through fresh milk

Step 1 of 4
Revive a dried starter in milk
Time
20 h
Reported
Temperature
25–30 °C
Reported
Salt
None given
Acidity
pH 6.4–6.6 → 4.27
Measured
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactic acid bacteria
Lactococcus lactis
Lactococcus cremoris
Geotrichum candidum
Yeasts

A laboratory protocol. The dry starter is added at 5 % (w/v) to sterilised milk, then moved into fresh sterilised milk after each round; after three more transfers it counted as active. Output: active viili starter.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
liquid to soured milk
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

lactic bacteria in the dry starter multiply, reaching about 9 log cfu/g after the first transfer

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 seeded with viili starter and left undisturbed at about 20 °C for most of a day. Slime-making lactococci set it into a ropy gel, and the mould Geotrichum candidum grows a velvety skin on top. Made in 4 steps over 36 h – 44 h. The longest step, leave undisturbed until set, takes 16–24 h (Yamane T. et al. 2021) and runs at 20–22.5 °C (Yamane T. et al. 2021). Lactococcus lactis subsp. cremoris and/or subsp. lactis, the slime-forming starter and Lactococcus lactis (dominant isolate) and Lactococcus cremoris from viili natural starters do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step16–24 hReported[yamane2021]Leave undisturbed until set
Temperature20–22.5 °CReported[yamane2021]Leave undisturbed until set
AciditypH 6.4–6.6 → 4.27Measured[rampanti2024]Revive a dried starter in milk

What makes this one different

Viili combines a slime-making lactococcal culture with a surface mould, so the set cup holds a long, stringy gel under a velvety skin.

Related ferments

Variants

  • KermaviiliMade from cream; used like sour cream.
  • Filbunke (Sweden)The Swedish variant that most resembles viili (Wikipedia).

Safety

Some lactococcal and enterococcal isolates from viili starters carried the histidine decarboxylase gene (hdcA), which can lead to histamine. The authors call this a first sign of a possible histamine risk from eating viili, and they tested the gene, not histamine in the product.

History and sources

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

Yamane and colleagues describe viili as a traditional fermented milk product that originated in Scandinavia. In modern practice, pasteurized milk is used and fermentation is carried out in a dairy plant with laboratory-grown cultures (Wikipedia).

  1. [rampanti2024] Rampanti G. et al. 2024, Technological and enzymatic characterization of autochthonous lactic acid bacteria isolated from viili natural starters, Foods 13(7):1115paper
  2. [yamane2021] Yamane T. et al. 2021, Exopolysaccharides from a Scandinavian fermented milk viili increase butyric acid and Muribaculum members in the mouse gut, Food Chemistry Molecular Sciences 3:100042paper
  3. [wp] Wikipedia, Viili (outline only)wiki