Kumis the national drink of steppe peoples
Kumis, also spelled
kumiss or
koumiss in English (or
kumys, see other
transliterationsand
cognate words below under
terminology and etymology) 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.
[1]
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,
alcoholcontent 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.
[2]
Kumis is also
transliterated kumiss,
kumiz,
koumiss,
kymys,
kymyz,
kumisz,
kymyz, or
qymyz (
Kazakh: қымыз,
[qəmə́z];
Turkish:
kımız;
Tatar: кымыз;
Kyrgyz: кымыз,
[qɯmɯ́z];
Bashkir: ҡымыҙ
qımıź [qɯmɯð];
Yakut: кымыс;
kymys;
Tuvan:
хымыс;
Uzbek: qimiz,
[qɨmɨz]). The Russian word (
Russian: кумыс,
[kʊmɨs]), comes from the
Turkic word qımız.
[3]The word
kumis derives from the Syro-Aramaic
khamets ("sour, fermented"), which is the same word as the Hebrew
khametz חָמֵץ ("leavened"), evidently spread to Central Asia during the period of strong
Nestorian-
Aramaic cultural influence in the 8th and 9th centuries. Kurmann derives the word from the name of the
Kumyks, one of many
Turkic peoples,
[4] although this appears to be a purely speculative claim.
In
Mongolia, the drink is called
airag (
Mongolian: айраг
[ˈai̯rəɡ])
[5] or, in some areas,
tsegee.
William of Rubruck in his travels calls the drink
cosmos and describes its preparation among the
Tatars
Archaeological investigations of the
Botai culture of ancient
Kazakstan have revealed traces of milk in bowls from the site of
Botai, suggesting the domestication of the animal.
[17] No specific evidence for its fermentation has yet been found, but considering the location of the Botai culture and the
nutritional properties of mare's milk, the possibility is high.
Kumis is an ancient beverage.
Herodotus, in his 5th-century BC
Histories, describes the
Scythians processing of mare's milk:
The milk thus obtained is poured into deep wooden casks, about which the blind slaves are placed, and then the milk is stirred round. That which rises to the top is drawn off, and considered the best part; the under portion is of less account.
[18]
This is widely believed to be a description of ancient kumis-making,
[4] and it matches up well enough with later accounts, such as this one given by 13th-century traveller
William of Rubruck:
This
cosmos, which is mare's milk, is made in this wise. [...] When they have got together a great quantity of milk, which is as sweet as cow's as long as it is fresh, they pour it into a big skin or bottle, and they set to churning it with a stick [...] and when they have beaten it sharply it begins to boil up like new wine and to sour or ferment, and they continue to churn it until they have extracted the butter. Then they taste it, and when it is mildly pungent, they drink it. It is pungent on the tongue like rapé wine when drunk, and when a man has finished drinking, it leaves a taste of
milk of almonds on the tongue, and it makes the inner man most joyful and also intoxicates weak heads, and greatly provokes urine.
[19]
Kumis - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
