Say Cheese!

After lunch, we visited a cheese-making family to observe the process of making cheese.  Urban people have access to vegetables, but the diet of the nomadic herds-people in this country consists mostly of meat and dairy products.  We sampled several of these dairy products today. 

As is customary, we were welcomed with bowls of milk tea.  
















Next, we sampled aaruul, hard chunks of dried yogurt.  After the yogurt is made, it is spread out on metal sheets and placed on the roof of the family's ger to dry.  This allows the family to preserve the yogurt almost indefinitely without refrigeration.

Lkhamaa, our hostess, brought in a bowl of this morning’s milk which was stirred over heat until the cream separated into a layer on the top.  The milk is poured off into a bucket for the cheese-making.

  

Nothing is wasted.  The remaining urum, a thick layer of cream similar to clotted cream, is scooped up and saved as well.
























It can then be spread on fried bread for a delicious treat 

or it may be stored and reheated to separate the yellow oil.  To this, flour and sugar would be added and the mixture would be fried for a snack.  








To make the cheese, the milk that was poured away from the cream is reheated on the family's iron, wood-burning stove.

Yogurt is added to separate the whey.  Lkhamaa told us she uses the whey to bathe her children and wash her own hair. 

When the whey separates, the mixture is removed from the heat, gathered in a cheese cloth, 

 and pressed to remove the liquid.  

The cheese would normally be pressed with a rock and left to drain for about three hours.  We wanted to taste it sooner than that.  

While we waited for the cheese to drain, we were lucky to see the production of milk vodka, a traditional alcoholic drink made from distilling yogurt. 

In the same ger, the family had bread rolled out and resting on one of the beds.  Mary referred to it as "bed bread," and when we were served a similar flat bread this evening at dinner, she asked, "Is this the bed bread?"  

Finally, our cheese was ready to turn out of the cheesecloth and taste!  Yumm!