Aromatic Kumiss

4 min read

China is an ancient country with profound tradition of “spirits culture”, and there are countless stories about spirits from ancient times to modern times. Throughout the history, many people have succeeded or failed due to spirits, and many people have won or lost because of spirits. So to speak, spirit plays an indispensable role in the time cycle and has seen the up and down of time and tide. The spirit that can make a people wake up from drunkenness cannot wait to recollect the pleasant flavor is few in number. Sweet and mellow spirits or those with heavy flavor will always make people recollect for longtime after being tasted…

Kumiss especially kumiss in Xin jiang differ greatly from the wine made of grain, and just like the origin place of it, kumiss can make people intoxicated without harming people, and it is mysterious and stable so as to make it easy to be accepted. Entering the boundless grassland and looking at the gently rolling hills on the horizon as far as you can, you are easy to enter a traditional atmosphere conforming to nature. The short-term summer is the season of kumiss on the grassland. Males ride horses and drink kumiss in the Mongolian yurt of each family in turn while females are busy brewing kumiss, the special beverage on grassland.

Genuine Xinjiang people know that kumiss has been playing an important role in Xinjiang since ancient times and used as an etiquette wine for nomadic people. The source of kumiss can date back to the era of Genghis Khan in the Yuan Dynasty. Tradition has it that after Genghis Khan went out to battle, his wife missed him very much and made milchigs at home. One day, when she stewed yogurt, the droplet on the spot cover flowed into a bowl and she smelt a special milk fragrance. It was sweet and fragrant, and made her feel that she was in paradise. She gradually grasped the techniques for making kumiss inproduction and life, made wine set in a simple way and brewed the wine by herself. On the opening ceremony of Genghis Khan becoming Khan, she contributed the wine made by herself to her husband Genghis Khan and soldiers. Genghis Khan and soldiers all praised the wine after drinking it. Thereupon, Genghis Khan approved the wine being used in imperial meals and named it”Sailinairiha，a kind of fermented milk”.

Actually，the making process of kumiss is not complicated，and the brewing timing is the key to make a barrel of kumiss of high quality.Store fresh mare’s milk or camel milk in a leather bucket and pour in old fermented milk as yeast，and stir it with a wood stick to make it hot and ferment so that the clean and sweet drink forms.The alcohol content of kumiss is not high，generally being at several degrees.Kumiss is gentle and not very intoxicating；it is rich in protein，minerals and sugar and has the function of health keeping and digestion improving.

It is said that when Manas，the Kirgiz hero went out for a war，his tribesmen also took milk meat as provision.Kirgiz people cultivate cattle，sheep，horses，camel and yaks to obtain meats and milks needed in daily life.The three meals almost all include meat，milk and dairy products，and wheat，highland barley and vegetable are accessory food in their diet.In summer and autumn，their main food and drink include fresh milk，yogurt，skin on boiled milk，cream，meat and cooked wheaten food；in winter and spring，their main food and drink include meat，yogurt knob，butter and cooked wheaten food.Their diets cannot go without milky tea.When you enter the yurts of Kirgiz people，people will sit cross-leggedaround the table and have meals together no matter how many people there are.The size of a yurt decides the size of the table cloth，and the number of visitors decides the richness of foods，and this shows the hospitality of Kirgiz people.

Kumiss is more of a staple food of herdsmen in summer than a kind of spirit.This is because that except meat，the nutrition on grassland mainly comes from kumiss.Many males drink several liters of kumiss every day，and even babies who are born for just several months also drink kumiss.Traditional Inner Mongolian doctors use kumiss to treatall kinds of illnesses and kumiss has unexpected curing effects on high tension，diabetes and gastrointestinal disease，etc.Therefore，you can find many clinics treating diseases with kumiss in many cities of Inner Mongolia.Kumiss can be said to be an ideal medicine for treating diseases which need avoiding certain foods.

The formaldhyde content in kumiss is nearly zero.Therefore，drinking kumiss will not harm your head，stomach，liver or cause any anomalies，so kumiss is called”boozing willnot harm your body”by many drinkers.The kumiss volume drunk by people of all ages andboth sexes is one or two times higher than that of other wines，and that kumiss can be drunk in a large quantity is an indisputable fact.

Now，kumiss not only can be drunk on grassland，but also has become a part of our daily life.Besides the traditional drinking style，there are also other unique drinking ways一coffee can be added to make delicious coffee kumiss；all kinds of juices can be added to make juice kumiss；kumiss can be drunk after being added by other white spirits and ice；kumiss can be made into various cocktails…While you taste the delicious kumiss，you can also experience the beautiful feeling of your original creation.