Pedro Gonzalez Agung Raka Wijaya XII IPA 5 / 21 Final Speaking Test of SMAK

Kosayu 2013-2014

Airag -
Fermented Mare's Milk
(often known by its Russian name "Kumys")

Airag is the traditional national beverage of Mongolia. The most important animal of the
Mongols is the horse. Horses don't only serve as riding animals, the mare's milk also has a
special status.

Preparation
The milk is filtered through a cloth, and poured into a large open leather sack (Khukhuur),
which is usually suspended next to the entrance of the yurt. Alternatively, a vat from larch
wood (Gan), or in modern times plastic, can be used. Within this container, the milk gets
stirred with a wooden masher (buluur).
The stirring needs to be repeated regularly over one or two days. Traditionally, anyone
entering or leaving the yurt would do a few strokes. The fermentation process is caused by a
combination of lactic acid bacteria and yeast, similar to Kefir. The stirring makes sure that all
parts of the milk are fermented equally.

Use
Airag refreshens and sparkles softly on the tongue. It contains a small amount of carbon
dioxide, and up to 2% of alcohol. The taste is slightly sour, but quite agreeable after getting
used to it. The exact taste depends both of the characteristics of the pastures and the exact
method of production. The beverage is a rich source of vitamins and minerals for the nomads.
Hospitality mandates to present a bowl of airag to each visitor. A Mongolian will normally
empty it, but it is also acceptable to just take a sip and return the bowl. To reject the offer
right away would be gravely impolite.
Similar to Isgelen Tarag (Kefir), it is possible, but not as common, to distill Airag into
Mongol Arkhi (milk liquor).



Health Questions
Mare's milk is usually not consumed raw, because it tends to have a strong laxative effect
(that effect can also be applied for medical treatment). Instead, it almost always gets
fermented into Airag.
Fermentation destroys the lactose in milk, converting it into lactic acid, ethanol, and carbon
dioxide. This makes Airag acceptable for lactose intolerant people, which includes many
Pedro Gonzalez Agung Raka Wijaya XII IPA 5 / 21 Final Speaking Test of SMAK
Kosayu 2013-2014

Mongolians. Without fermentation, mare's milk contains significantly more lactose than milk
from cows or yaks.
To this day, the culture and lifestyle of the Mongols have been largely influenced by their
long-running nomadic traditions. One of the areas where this is particularly apparent is
Mongolian cuisine, which remains heavily reliant on the kind of foods that are suitable to a
nomadic lifestyle. Most dishes are based on meat and fat from camels, mutton, cattle and yak,
as well as a variety of dairy products.
One of the most popular dairy products used by the Mongols is airag, a kind of fermented
mare's milk. Airag is a multi-purpose drink, fit for just about any usage. The drink - the
vitamin, protein and carbohydrate content of which depends on the type and quality of grass
the mares have been grazing on - is considered to have significant health benefits. The
Mongols themselves believe it to have a detoxifying effect on the body, and it's also used to
treat lung and respiratory diseases, tuberculosis, and to stimulate digestion and improve a
person's overall energy levels. In spite of all these beneficial qualities, however, airag's
biggest distinction has to be the fact that it contains alcohol and is an integral part of any
Mongolian celebration or feast.
Although airag's medicinal effects have never been conclusively proven, it gained a
reputation towards the end of 19th century as a cure for most every ailment, and Southern
Russia even boasted a number of clinics where patients could check in and get treatment in
the form of relaxation and drinking kumis, as the drink is called there. Some of the most
notable people to have gone on the "kumis regime" include Russian authors Leo Tolstoy and
Anton Chekhov. Chekhov drank four bottles of airag a day for two weeks in a bid to cure his
tuberculosis, but only succeeded in gaining 6 kilos, while Tolstoy turned to kumis to ease the
symptoms of a troubled existence.


A tough job
Not all Mongolian families can produce airag, as it takes a considerable amount of time,
effort and mares to produce enough milk for making the delicacy. When milked six times per
day, one mare will produce roughly 1.5-2 liters of milk, which means that in order to produce
enough airag for a whole family, it is necessary to keep at least a dozen mares. Also, in order
to produce good quality airag, the milk must be stirred 1,000 times a day. This is typically
done by children who often make the tedious chore a part of their play. The airag is
fermented in a specially-made animal hide bags and stirred with a special wooden stick.
Pedro Gonzalez Agung Raka Wijaya XII IPA 5 / 21 Final Speaking Test of SMAK
Kosayu 2013-2014


Mongolian airag.

Middle Gobi Province, often referred to as the Land of Airag and Long Songs, is said to
produce the best airag because of the unique blend of desert grasses found there. The
beautiful Northern Mountain region is also famous for producing fine airag. At any rate, it's
important for the mares to graze in a cool place near rivers and lakes in order for the milk to
have the right qualities to make good airag.
As the Mongols are highly superstitious people, even after this arduous production process
the very finest airag is likely to be offered to Mother Nature or sprinkled over the head and
hindquarters of a horse that's won a race. Only after these rituals will the Mongols themselves
drink the milk, typically from huge bowls. Whether enjoyed as a social drink with guests,
marking a festive occasion or simply trying to keep thirst at bay, airag remains a staple of the
Mongolian diet and a treasured part of Mongolian cuisine and culture.

Kumis
Kumis, also spelled kumiss or koumiss in English (or kumys, see other transliterations and
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.
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, alcohol content 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.

Terminology and etymology
Pedro Gonzalez Agung Raka Wijaya XII IPA 5 / 21 Final Speaking Test of SMAK
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Kumis is also transliterated kumiss, kumiz, koumiss, kymys, kymyz, kumisz, kymyz, or qymyz
(Kazakh: ,

]; Turkish: kmz; Tatar: ; Kyrgyz: ,

];
Bashkir: qm ]; Yakut: ; kymys; Tuvan: ; Uzbek: qimiz,
]). The Russian word (Russian: , ks]), comes from the Turkic word qmz.
The word kumis derives from the Syro-Aramaic khamets ("sour, fermented"), which is the
same word as the Hebrew khametz ("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,
although this appears to be a purely speculative claim.
In Mongolia, the drink is called airag (Mongolian: ]) or, in some areas, tsegee.
William of Rubruck in his travels calls the drink cosmos and describes its preparation among
the Tatars.

Production of mare's milk
A 1982 source reported 230,000 horses were kept in the Soviet Union specifically for
producing milk to make into kumis. Rinchingiin Indra, writing about Mongolian dairying,
says "it takes considerable skill to milk a mare" and describes the technique: the milker
kneels on one knee, with a pail propped on the other, steadied by a string tied to an arm. One
arm is wrapped behind the mare's rear leg and the other in front. A foal starts the milk flow
and is pulled away by another person, but left touching the mare's side during the entire
process.


A mare being milked in Suusamyr valley, Kyrgyzstan
In Mongolia, the milking season for horses traditionally runs between mid-June and early
October. During one season, a mare produces approximately 1,000 to 1,200 litres of milk, of
which about half is left to the foals.

Nutritional properties of mare's milk
During fermentation, the lactose in mare's milk is converted into lactic acid, ethanol and
carbon dioxide, and the milk becomes an accessible source of nutrition for people who are
lactose intolerant.
Pedro Gonzalez Agung Raka Wijaya XII IPA 5 / 21 Final Speaking Test of SMAK
Kosayu 2013-2014

Before fermentation, mare's milk has almost 40% more lactose than cow's milk. According to
one modern source, "unfermented mare's milk is generally not drunk", because it is a strong
laxative. Varro's On Agriculture, from the 1st century BC, also mentions this: "as a laxative
the best is mare's milk, then donkey's milk, cow's milk, and finally goat's milk..."; drinking
six ounces (190 ml) a day would be enough to give a lactose-intolerant person severe
intestinal symptoms.

Production of kumis
Kumis is made by fermenting raw unpasteurized mare's milk over the course of hours or days,
often while stirring or churning. (The physical agitation has similarities to making butter).
During the fermentation, lactobacilli bacteria acidify the milk, and yeasts turn it into a
carbonated and mildly alcoholic drink.
Traditionally, this fermentation took place in horse-hide containers, which might be left on
the top of a yurt and turned over on occasion, or strapped to a saddle and joggled around over
the course of a day's riding. Today, a wooden vat or plastic barrel may be used in place of the
leather container.
Other accounts from some cities in northern or western China have it that the skin, partially
filled with mares' milk, is hung at the door of each home during the season for making such
beverages, and passersby, who are familiar with the practice, give each such skin a good
punch as they walk by, agitating the contents so they would turn into kumis rather than
coagulate and spoil.
In modern controlled production, the initial fermentation takes two to five hours at a
temperature of around 27 C (81 F); this may be followed by a cooler aging period. The
finished product contains between 0.7 and 2.5% alcohol.
Kumis itself has a very low level of alcohol, comparable to small beer, the common drink of
medieval Europe that also avoided the consumption of potentially contaminated water. Kumis
can, however, be strengthened through freeze distillation, a technique Central Asian nomads
are reported to have employed. It can also be distilled into the spirit known as araka or arkhi.

History
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. 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:
Pedro Gonzalez Agung Raka Wijaya XII IPA 5 / 21 Final Speaking Test of SMAK
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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.
This is widely believed to be a description of ancient kumis-making, 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 rap 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.

Health

In the West, kumis has been touted for its health benefits, as in this 1877 book also naming it
"Milk Champagne".

Toward the end of the 19th century, kumis had a strong enough reputation as a cure-all to
support a small industry of "kumis cure" resorts, mostly in south-eastern Russia, where
patients were "furnished with suitable light and varied amusement" during their treatment,
which consisted of drinking large quantities of kumis. W. Gilman Thompson's 1906 Practical
Diatetics reported kumis has been cited as beneficial for a range of chronic diseases,
including tuberculosis, bronchitis, catarrh, and anaemia. Gilman also said a large part of the
credit for the successes of the "kumis cure" is due not to the beverage, but to favourable
summer climates at the resorts. Among notables to try the cure were writers Leo Tolstoy and
Pedro Gonzalez Agung Raka Wijaya XII IPA 5 / 21 Final Speaking Test of SMAK
Kosayu 2013-2014

Anton Chekhov. Chekhov, long-suffering from tuberculosis, checked into a "kumis cure"
resort in 1901. Drinking four bottles a day for two weeks, he gained 12 pounds, but no cure.
Consumption
Strictly speaking, kumis is in its own category of alcoholic drinks because it is made neither
from fruit nor from grain. Technically, it is closer to wine than to beer because the
fermentation occurs directly from sugars, as in wine (usually from fruit), as opposed to from
starches (usually from grain) converted to sugars by mashing, as in beer. But in terms of
experience and traditional manner of consumption, it is much more comparable to beer. It is
even milder in alcoholic content than beer and is usually consumed cold. It is arguably the
egons bee euvlent.
Kumis is very light in body compared to most dairy drinks. It has a unique, slightly sour
flavor with a bite from the mild alcoholic content. The exact flavour is greatly variable
between different producers.
As indicated above, kumis is usually served cold or chilled. Traditionally it is sipped out of
small, handle-less, bowl-shaped cups or saucers, called piyala. The serving of it is an
essential part of Kyrgyz hospitality on the yaylak or high pasture, where they keep their herds
of animals (horse, cattle, and sheep) during the summer phase of transhumance.
One custom that may be disturbing to the visitor's notions of hygiene is that of pouring the
dregs of each cup back into the kumis storage container. That way, none is wasted, and the
hostess assures herself there will be enough for future visitors.

Cultural role
The capital of Kyrgyzstan, Bishkek, is named after the paddle used to churn the fermenting
milk, showing the importance of the drink in the national culture.
The famous Russian writer Leo Tolstoy in A Confession spoke of running away from his
troubled life by drinking kumis.
The popular Japanese soft drink Calpis models its flavour after the taste of kumis.