Kumis in Xinjiang: Fermented Horse Milk on the Grasslands

On a June night in a Narat yurt I was handed a wooden bowl of something fizzy, sour and faintly alcoholic — my first kumis, and the Kazakh herder’s laugh told me I’d either love it or hate it within three sips.

Kumis is fermented mare’s milk, the ancient nomad drink of the grasslands of Central Asia, and in Xinjiang it is made the old way by Kazakh and Kyrgyz herders across the Ili Valley, the Tianshan meadows and up into Altay. Called qimiz in Uyghur and kymyz among Kazakhs, it is not a yogurt and not quite a beer — a naturally fizzy, probiotic-rich drink with less than 2 percent alcohol that forms when mare’s milk is beaten in a leather sack (a chörök) and left to warm-ferment. For a self-driver chasing real food experiences, tasting fresh kumis at a summer pasture is a genuine northern-Xinjiang highlight, but you need to know when it appears, where to find it, and how to handle the unpasteurised version. This guide covers all three, and how it differs from the clotted cream (kaymak) and thick yogurt you’ll meet at the same table.

What kumis actually is

Mare’s milk is chemically different from cow’s milk: it is low in fat and casein but high in lactose, so left alone it sours rather than clots. Herders pour it into a chörök — a smoked horse-hide sack — and churn it dozens of times a day with a wooden paddle. The agitation plus wild yeasts and bacteria start a dual fermentation: lactic acid gives the sour tang, a little alcohol gives the fizz. Fresh kumis is pale, frothy and sharp; left another day it turns sharper and stronger. It is traditionally served in a small wooden bowl (kese) and never reheated, because heat kills the live culture. The alcohol stays low — usually under 2 percent, roughly the level of a very weak kombucha — so it is a food, not a drink to avoid before driving. I treat a bowl as a snack, not a sip, and always finish it on the spot.

• Fermented in a chörök (horse-hide sack), churned by hand
• Lactic + light alcohol (<2%), naturally fizzy
• Served in a wooden kese, never heated

When and where to find it

Kumis is a summer drink, full stop. Mares foal in spring, and the milking season runs roughly June through August, peaking in July when the grasslands are green. Outside those months you will only find bottled, pasteurised versions in city supermarkets, which taste flat next to the fresh stuff. The best places to try it are working yurt stays and pastoral fairs in the north: Narat and Kalajun meadows in Ili, the Tekes river grasslands, the Bayinbuluke approach, and Kazakh summer camps above Altay. Many yurt camps on the Ili Valley food circuit offer a bowl as part of breakfast if you ask the night before. Around nowruz and local horse-racing festivals in May and June you’ll also find stalls in county towns. I plan kumis stops for July, when the animals are in milk and the herders are happy to demonstrate the churn.

• Season: June-August, peak in July
• Best: Narat, Kalajun, Tekes, Bayinbuluke, Altay yurts
• City supermarkets sell flat pasteurised bottles off-season

How to drink it without a stomach surprise

Fresh, unpasteurised kumis is a live culture bomb, and a first bowl can loosen your stomach if you’re not used to it — exactly like the first time with proper kimchi or kvass. Start with a small bowl (about 100-150 ml), don’t chase it with cold water, and skip it entirely if you have a sensitive gut or are on antibiotics. Children and pregnant travellers should stick to the pasteurised bottle version. Price is humble: 15 to 30 RMB a bowl at a yurt, occasionally free if you’re a guest at breakfast. It pairs naturally with nan and kaymak — the clotted cream that sits on the same table — and with the thick strained yogurt (suzma) that follows. I learned to eat a little bread first, then sip slowly; the sour fizz grows on you by the third bowl.

• Start small (100-150 ml); don’t chase with cold water
• Avoid if pregnant, on antibiotics, or gut-sensitive
• 15-30 RMB a bowl; pairs with nan and kaymak

Kumis vs kaymak vs yogurt on the same table

At a northern grassland breakfast you’ll meet three dairy things that confuse first-timers. Kumis is the fizzy fermented mare’s milk you drink. Kaymak is clotted cream — slow-simmered milk skin lifted and layered, rich and mild, spread on nan. Suzma is yogurt strained thick through cloth until it’s almost cheese, tangy and salty, eaten with herbs. They come from the same herds but taste nothing alike, and a good yurt host will lay out all three with honey, raisins and the local Uyghur bread. The dairy products guide to kaymak covers the cream in detail; here the point is that kumis is the drink, not the cream. I order ‘bir kese’ (one bowl) for the kumis and point at the bread for the rest, and the gesture alone tells the herder I’ve done this before.

• Kumis = drink; kaymak = clotted cream; suzma = strained yogurt
• All three appear at a grassland breakfast
• Point-and-bowl works; ‘bir kese’ means one bowl

Buying and carrying it on a road trip

You cannot realistically carry fresh kumis far — it keeps maybe a day unrefrigerated and goes sharp fast, so drink it where you find it. If you want to take some home, the sealed pasteurised bottles in a Urumqi or Yining supermarket travel fine in a cooler bag for a day or two and survive the flight if chilled. Look for the Uyghur or Kazakh script and a short ingredient list (mare’s milk, culture, nothing else); avoid anything with added sugar or preservatives if you want the real taste. The Ili Valley towns of Yining and Zhaosu have the widest off-season selection. I keep one bottle in the cooler for the drive south and accept that it will never match the yurt version — that’s the trade for taking the steppe with me.

• Fresh keeps ~1 day; drink it on the spot
• Sealed bottles travel in a cooler bag
• Short ingredient list = better; avoid added sugar