Recipes

1504 records with their sources, across 11 categories.

All dairy46Cultured dairy26Cheese20
Filtered to

Recipes

Thick plain skyr in an ivory bowl with a stainless spoon beside it.

Skyr

Skyr is Iceland’s thick, tart fresh cheese. This home method cultures skim milk with fresh skyr and rennet, then drains the curd under refrigeration.

Iceland · Modern adaptation
· Dairy
A spoon lifting soft white curd from a jar of set ikivuguto, a poured glass beside it and a wooden milk vessel.

Ikivuguto at home

Ikivuguto is Rwanda's thick soured milk. This home version sets pasteurised whole milk with cultured buttermilk overnight at about 21 °C, then chills it for a mild, spoonable drink.

Rwanda · Modern method
· Dairy
Smooth plain stirred yogurt in an ivory bowl with a separate bottle of milk behind.

Stirred yogurt

This plain yogurt is heated, cultured warm and stirred smooth after chilling. A Canadian home method uses fresh plain yogurt to start the lactic fermentation.

Canada · Modern method
· Dairy
Plain sour cream in a round ivory bowl with a stainless teaspoon beside it.

Sour cream

Sour cream is light cream thickened and soured by a lactic starter. This Canadian method uses homogenized cream and lets the gel form in its storage container.

Canada · Modern method
· Dairy
Plain filmjölk in a shallow ivory bowl, with a separate unlabelled bottle of milk behind.

Filmjölk

Filmjölk is a Swedish cultured milk with mild acidity and a spoonable body. This recurring batch uses filmjölk from the previous batch to culture fresh milk.

Sweden · Modern method
· Dairy
Illustrative paired servings of ryazhenka and varenets, cultured baked milks with a subtle tone difference rather than standardized colors.

Ryazhenka and varenets

Ryazhenka is a Ukrainian and Russian cultured milk made from long-heated, baked cow's milk, cream-coloured and gently sour; varenets is its close relative with a shorter heat treatment.

Ukraine · Modern adaptation
· Dairy
Cultured buttermilk in a glass with a separate pitcher of milk on an ivory surface.

Cultured buttermilk, direct-set

Milk thickened with a packet of buttermilk culture makes a tangy drink and a baking ingredient. This warm-incubated version uses whole milk.

Utah · Modern method
· Dairy
Photograph of Pitkäpiimä.

Pitkäpiimä

Pitkäpiimä is a Finnish cultured milk whose defining trait is a long, stretchy, ropy texture. It is closely related to viili and is made by lactic fermentation with a specific culture.

Finland · Traditional method
· Dairy
Fresh soft white labneh from the Awassi bag-drained method in a plain ceramic bowl, with a cotton draining cloth beside it.

Labneh, Awassi bag-drained method

Labneh made from boiled Awassi sheep's milk, cultured with a little of the previous batch and drained in a bag for about a week, with salt added each day.

Near East
Dairy
Plain Juju dhau, a thick Newar cultured buffalo-milk curd, set in an unglazed earthenware kataro.
Elevated risk

Juju dhau

Juju dhau is a rich Newar cultured milk associated with Bhaktapur, Nepal. A local account describes buffalo milk concentrated by boiling, inoculated with previous-day curd and set in earthen pots.

Bhaktapur
· Dairy
Plain matsoni in a terracotta pot with a separate milk jug on an ivory surface.

Matsoni with a countertop culture

A commercial countertop-culture version of matsoni, a Georgian cultured milk. Its room-temperature method differs from the warmer Georgian production process.

Georgia · Modern adaptation
· Dairy
A spoonful of thick plain Greek-style strained yogurt lifted over a white ceramic bowl.

Greek-style strained yogurt

Greek-style strained yogurt is cultured whole milk drained through cloth to remove whey. This modern Utah home method makes a thick yogurt from a gallon batch.

Utah · Modern method
· Dairy
Plain piimä in a clear tumbler, with a separate ceramic milk jug behind on an ivory surface.

Piimä with a countertop culture

A thin cultured-milk drink made with a commercial countertop starter. Finnish piimä is a mealtime sour milk with distinct regional traditions.

Finland · Modern adaptation
· Dairy
A bowl of pale, softly curdled omaere with a calabash vessel in the background.
High risk

Omaere (Herero soured milk)

A cultural record of omaere, soured milk associated with Otjiherero-speaking communities in Namibia and Botswana, and documented through household accounts of calabash vessels and fermentation.

Namibia · Traditional method
· Dairy
Plain set yogurt in a clear glass bowl on a warm ivory surface.

Plain yogurt

A mild, set yogurt made by inoculating warm pasteurized milk with live-culture yogurt and holding it until it gels. This US extension method uses a short ingredient list and controlled incubation.

United States
· Dairy
Plain white quark with fine moist curds in an ivory bowl, with a clean spreader beside it.

Quark

Quark is a soft, fresh curd cheese used in spreads and desserts. This small home batch sets milk with mesophilic culture and rennet before refrigerated drainage.

Germany · Modern method
· Dairy
A shallow ceramic bowl of thick white långfil, with a spoon drawing a soft elastic strand of cultured milk back into the bowl.

Långfil and tettemelk

Långfil and tettemelk are traditional Swedish and Norwegian cultured milks with a mild sour taste and a stretchy texture produced by ropy lactic acid bacteria.

Northern Sweden · Traditional method
· Dairy
A shallow pale ceramic bowl filled with thick smooth white katyk.

Katyk (qatiq)

Katyk is a traditional fermented milk of Turkic-speaking peoples, made by souring heated milk with lactic bacteria, often with a spoonful of the last batch, into a thick, sour curd.

Republic of Tatarstan · Traditional method
· Dairy
Plain set yogurt in an open glass jar, with a separate ceramic milk jug behind.

Set yogurt

Set yogurt keeps the milk’s cultured gel intact in its final container. This Canadian home method follows the same heating and inoculation as stirred yogurt, without the final stirring.

Canada · Modern method
· Dairy
Pale yellow cultured butter on an oval ivory dish, with a clean butter knife beside it.

Cultured butter

Cultured butter is churned from cream soured with lactic cultures. Its lightly tart flavour comes from the cultured cream, which separates into butter grains and buttermilk.

Canada · Modern adaptation
· Dairy
Pourable cultured skim-milk buttermilk in a clear glass carafe and glass.

Cultured buttermilk

Cultured buttermilk is skim milk soured with a lactic starter into a tangy drink. This Canadian home method sets the milk without churning cream.

Canada · Modern method
· Dairy
Plain crème fraîche in a smooth glass bowl, with a stainless teaspoon beside it on an ivory surface.

Crème fraîche

Crème fraîche is cream soured by lactic cultures into a thick, mild topping. It suits fruit and desserts as well as soups, sauces and other savoury dishes.

Utah · Modern method
· Dairy
Illustrative modern fresh cultured-milk curd with chopped herbs, inspired by the Ribe museum adaptation; not a recovered Viking-age cheese or skyr.

Viking Age cheese and curds

Soft fresh curd made by draining whey from milk already thickened by bacterial acidification, the simplest point in a northern dairy tradition that also produced skyr, ymer and whey itself.

Iceland · Modern adaptation
· Dairy
A plain, softly set bowl of tarag, Mongolian cultured milk, shown without toppings.

Tarag (Mongolian yoghurt)

Tarag is a traditional Mongolian fermented milk made by culturing heated cow, yak, sheep or goat milk with a retained starter into a sour, softly set or drinkable yoghurt.

Mongolia · Traditional method
· Dairy
An illustrative serving of thin white Suusac beside an understated darkened vessel; not a documentary image of a specific historical batch.
High risk

Suusac (Somali fermented camel milk)

Suusac is a traditional fermented camel-milk drink of Somali pastoral communities in Kenya and Somalia, soured spontaneously in smoke-treated vessels into a thin, acid, smoky milk.

Isiolo District · Traditional method
· Dairy