Airag
Airag is Mongolia’s fermented mare’s-milk drink, traditionally churned with saved starter in a reusable cowhide khokhuur.
Equipment · Skins and bladders
Khokhuur
khokhuur · хөхүүр · khökhüür
The khokhuur is a traditional Mongolian airag vessel made from prepared cowhide. Its flexible leather body holds mare’s milk while it is churned with a separate wooden buluur paddle.
A vessel made from hide
Khokhuur (also transliterated khökhüür) is the flexible cowhide vessel at the centre of a traditional Mongolian way of making airag, fermented mare’s milk. The heritage record treats it as a distinct piece of equipment alongside the buluur, a wooden churning paddle, and the khovoo, a kibble. Those implements are associated with the process but are not parts of the bag itself.
The Mongolian National Center for Cultural Heritage describes making the vessel from prepared cowhide: the hide is soaked, its filament removed, then wind-dried and smoked until it becomes flexible leather. The inventory describes a mouth, neck, corner, body and cords. This is a soft-sided hide container, not a rigid jar or a sausage casing. The source does not provide a universal pattern, dimensions or seam layout, so those details should not be treated as fixed.
Used for making airag
UNESCO describes the khokhuur holding mare’s milk while it is repeatedly churned with a starter retained in the vessel. The entry names the buluur as the paddle used for this work and records more than 500 churns in the basic method it describes. It presents the bag and the making practice together: the vessel is part of a living household and herding tradition, not just a generic container for dairy.
The hide forms a flexible enclosure around the liquid, while the separate paddle moves the contents. The sources document the use, but do not quantify how the hide affects temperature, oxygen transfer or flavour. Those effects should not be inferred from the material alone.
Sources for this section
Range, craft and continuity
Mongolia's cultural-heritage inventory gives a capacity range of 40 to 100 litres. The range describes documented khokhuur vessels and should not be read as a specification for every example. It also describes a wooden buluur paddle, confirming that churning is done with a separate tool.
UNESCO records the associated skills as knowledge passed between generations and inscribed the practice on its Representative List in 2019. That is a date of recognition, not a securely established starting date for the bag's shape or use. The inventory names cowhide, flexible leather and cords; it does not establish a standard finished-vessel cleaning or storage procedure. A maker’s instructions are needed for practical care.
History
UNESCO records the airag-making tradition as intergenerational knowledge and inscribed it in 2019. That inscription date documents recognition, not the invention or earliest date of the vessel.
Equipment details
Capacity40–100 L The Mongolian heritage inventory reports a 40–100 litre range; this is a documented range, not a standard size for every khokhuur.
PowerNo power The vessel is manually used; the associated buluur is a separate wooden paddle.
How you get oneBought from a maker UNESCO describes khokhuur and related implements as made by practitioners with inherited craft knowledge; no price, retail channel or current maker directory is established here.
CareThe National Center describes hide preparation by soaking, removing the hide's filament, wind-drying and smoking. The sources consulted do not give a cleaning, seasoning or storage protocol for a finished vessel.
Made of
- Cowhide prepared as flexible leather — Vessel body
The Mongolian National Center for Cultural Heritage describes soaking the hide, removing its filaments, wind-drying and smoking it until it becomes flexible leather. - Cords — Suspension and closure fittings
Cords are included in the heritage inventory's description of the vessel; their material is not specified.
Places
Mongolia
Traditional use · Country evidenceCountry-level sources document khokhuur in Mongolia's airag tradition; they do not identify a single place of origin.
Related
Used for
Read more
Harvests into drinks: fruit, grain and milk
A marula harvest, a rice mash and a bowl of fermented mare’s milk reveal different ways to make alcohol, and different kinds of knowledge behind the drink.
Natural casings: the animal envelopes of sausages, puddings and cheeses
Gut, stomach, bladder, caul and skin have held food for as long as recipes have been written down. Which part of the animal a cook chose still decides a food's shape, how it dries and smokes, and how it is eaten.
The vessel and the ferment: pots, vats, skins and pits
Jars, barrels, skins, leaves, pits and whole rooms decide much of what happens to fermented and cured food. This is how a container works on its contents, and how people in different places chose theirs.
Community
No community contributions have been published for this entry yet.
Share what you made
Sign in to contribute. Published comments and photos are free to read.
Sources
UNESCO Intangible Cultural HeritageTraditional use · Craft · Cultural history
Traditional technique of making Airag in Khokhuur and its associated customsThe khokhuur is a cowhide vessel for traditional airag, a fermented mare's-milk beverage.
The related buluur is a paddle and the khovoo a kibble.
The described method repeatedly churns milk in the khokhuur with starter left inside; UNESCO specifies over 500 churns.
The skills are inherited between generations; the element was inscribed in 2019.
Cited in: A vessel made from hide; Used for making airag; Range, craft and continuity
National Center for Cultural Heritage under the Ministry of Culture of Mongolia, via ichLinks MongoliaMaterials · Form · Capacity · Craft
Traditional technique of making Airag in Khokhuur and its associated customsThe vessel is prepared from cowhide soaked to remove filaments, wind-dried and smoked into flexible leather.
The described vessel has a mouth, neck, corner, body and cords.
The inventory reports a 40–100 litre capacity range and distinguishes the wooden buluur paddle.
Cited in: A vessel made from hide; Range, craft and continuity