Fermenting of milk for the preparation of yogurt, cheeses or kefir is ancient practice, and in different cultures there are traditional methods, often preserved in oral stories. For example, in the forests of Bulgaria and Turkey there are many ants from red forests, so the time -tested Bulgarian practice for the manufacture of yogurt includes the discharge of several living ants (or crushed ants) in milk to jump with fermentation. Scientists have now found out why ants are so effective in creating edible yogurt, according to paper Published in the journal ISCIENCE. The authors even cooperated with cooks to create modern recipes using ant yogurt.
“Today's yogurts are usually produced only with two bacterial strains,” – Said co -author Leoni Jan From the Technical University of Denmark. “If you look at traditional yogurt, you have a much greater biodiversity that differs depending on the location, households and season. This brings more tastes, textures and personality. ”
If you want to study traditional culinary methods, this helps to go to where these traditions appeared, since local residents probably still retain the memories and oral stories of mentioned culinary methods, in this case, the new Mahala, where the co-author of Sevgi Mutlu Sirakov still lives. To recreate Yogurt Ant of the region, the team followed the instructions of Uncle Sirakova. They used fresh raw cow, heated to burning, “so that it could bite your finger in the little finger”, according to the authors. Four living ants with a red tree were then collected from a local colony and added to milk.
The authors fixed milk with a cheese and wrapped a glass container in the fabric for insulation before burying it inside the ant colony, completely covering the container with bulk material. “The nest itself, as you know, produces heat and, thus, acts as an incubator for yogurt’s fermentation,” they wrote. They took the container 26 hours later to try it and check the pH, mixing to observe coagulation. Milk definitely began to thicken and sour, producing the early stage of yogurt. The figures described this as “slightly sharp, grass”, with notes “fat with grass”.
