(This translation was originally published by the Popular Science China Micro Platform)
Yak yogurt has been an indispensable food and offering for the Tibetan people for thousands of years. In Tibetan areas, the biggest festival of the year, the "Snowton Festival", is named after yogurt. "Shelton Festival" is held at the end of June or early July of the Tibetan calendar every year, in Tibetan, "snow" means yogurt, "Dun" means "eat" and "feast", and Shelton Festival is interpreted in Tibetan as a festival to eat yogurt.
The biggest quality of yak yogurt is the indescribable acid, how can it be sour unscrupulously? When making yak yogurt, yak milk that has just been squeezed out for no more than 30 minutes is usually used in containers, fueled by yak manure, and the milk is slowly boiled.
When the temperature drops to about 40°C, mix the overnight yogurt left for fermentation and simply seal it outdoors. Allowed by the Tibetan sun and dry temperatures to aid its slow fermentation, the lactic acid bacteria in it multiply until the lactose is broken down into lactic acid. As the acidity of lactic acidity continues to increase, the casein in yak milk begins to precipitate, and finally condenses into a tender tofu-like lump, and the yak yogurt is completed, and the whole process takes one to two days.
In the production and processing of yak yogurt, there are no additives. The yak milk is left to rest in a container and has a slow chemical reaction with the lactic acid bacteria. For a long time, Tibetan compatriots have used yogurt as a starter to produce probiotics, and the effects of this invisible "probiotic" are well known.
What's even more amazing is why tibetan compatriots who have been eating yak yogurt for a long time are physically fit? The conjugated linoleic acid contained in yak milk is indispensable, it can effectively reduce the ratio of adipose tissue in the body to lean tissue, because in a certain range, the higher the proportion of lean tissue, the higher the metabolic capacity in the body, this method successfully solved the dilemma of only reducing "weight" without losing "fat".
Recommended for this issue: "Knowledge is Power (In Tibetan)"
Publisher: Knowledge is Power Magazine
Introduction to works (periodicals, books): "Knowledge is Power (Tibetan)" is a comprehensive minority book for compatriots in Tibetan areas, especially young people
Ethnic science popularization publications aim to popularize scientific knowledge, disseminate scientific ideas and scientific methods, carry forward the spirit of science, and serve to improve the scientific quality of the Tibetan masses, especially to sow scientific seeds to the vast number of Tibetan youth, enlighten scientific wisdom, and ignite scientific dreams.
Author: Wang Lei
Editor-in-Charge: Wang Ying
New Media Editor: Yao Di