What are the traditional uses of Yak milk in different cultures?

How is yak milk traditionally used?

Yak milk is the basis of several staple foods for herders in high-altitude Asia. It is rich, so it is mostly turned into storable products, with butter first.

Butter

The FAO describes butter as the main milk product and a staple food. Wrapped in calf-hide bags or yak rumen, it stays usable for one to two years without going moldy. Besides food, it is used as fuel in household lamps and in sacred lamps.

Milk tea

Milk tea is a staple drink. According to the FAO, herders usually drink light tea with about 5% milk, while in the warm season or for guests the brew may contain 20% milk or more. Butter tea, made from tea, butter and salt, is common in many places.

Cheese and dried curd

• Hard, dried cheeses: churpi (India) is a hard dried cheese made mainly from skimmed milk. In Bhutan, chuto and hapiruto are dried cheeses that keep well.
• Milk residue: a curd made by heating milk, adding sour milk to curdle it, then draining and drying the curds.
• Nepal factories: Swiss-style hard cheese is made from nak and chauri milk. The FAO cited about 4,000 people earning a living from it in the 1990s.

Soured milk and other products

Soured milk is made by mixing a little sour milk into boiled, cooled milk and keeping it wrapped in wool for several hours. It is drunk alone or with zanba (roasted barley flour). Milk skin is made by heating milk until near boiling, cooling it and drying the layer that forms. In Mongolia, milk is also fermented into an alcoholic drink. Whey is rarely used in herding regions, but in some farming areas it feeds pigs.

Is yak milk sold elsewhere?

Small amounts of yak cheese and other products are sold outside the mountains as specialty foods. Availability is limited and varies by shop.