Koomis, Fermented Horse Milk from Kazakhstan

Submitted by Boonlong

"I am including this as a curiosity. Even most Kazakhs don't drink this very much any more, little wonder. It has to be the most awful alcoholic beverage on the face of the Earth. Still, if you're a glutton for punishment, desperate for a totally new experience or looking for a new way to prove your machismo, then give it a try. It is also found in Mongolia."

 

• Ready In: 20mins
• Ingredients: 2
• Serves: 4

ingredients

• 2 liters mare's milk
• 1⁄4 cup horse fat

directions

1. Pour milk into a goat-skin bag. Add horse fat and fermenting agent. Leave in at room temperature, stirring once a day, for six weeks.
2. Serve chilled. Better yet, don't serve it.

Reviews

[James Elkins]

I thought I should add something a little more positive. Kumys (to give it the spelling closest to the Cyrillic) is also a national dish in Kyrgyzstan. There, it is served with sheep's meat (cut into large pieces, bone on) and a clear dill soup with oil. Kumys can be astonishing: it's like hard cider mixed with milk (and maybe a bit of vinegar). Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan, may even be named for the churn used to make the drink. I'd also add that kumys isn't hard to get, in Kazakhstan or Kyrgyzstan: if you go there in early summer, by all means look for it. It doesn't take machismo to drink it! -- just curiosity.