Horse milk, anyone?

Well, it was bound to happen. Each day, at noon, our hotel serves glasses of kymyz (koo miss) to the guests. Kymyz is a dairy beverage made from fermented mare's milk – carbonated and mildly alcoholic. The drink is important to the people of the Central Asian steppes, especially Kazakhs, who attest to its many health benefits.

In case you were wondering (we’ve come to ponder these things), kymyz is not always easy to come by, because milking a horse is no easy task! Here’s how it’s done: the milker kneels on one knee, with a pail propped on the other, steadied by a string tied to an arm. One arm is wrapped behind the mare's rear leg and the other in front. A foal starts the milk flow and is pulled away by another person, but left touching the mare's side during the entire process. Amazing!

Alas, we have always been at the baby house in Schuchinsk at noon, thus missing this daily Kazakh tradition. Until, that is, we met two sisters recently, Assel and Gulzhan, also staying at the hotel.

Assel speaks fluent English, and had been waiting for an opportunity to meet us. Finally, our paths crossed, and a wonderful time was had exchanging stories with these two special young women. Then the conversation turned to horse milk. “Have you been enjoying the kymyz - horse milk - each day?” Assel asked. “Umm, unfortunately not,” we replied, explaining our schedule. “Oh, you must try it! It is very good for you and is a very special drink in Kazakhstan.” “We’ll plan on doing that soon,” we promised.

At lunch the next day, two glasses of what we thought were Kefir (a buttermilk-meets-yogurt drink) were next to our plates – certainly different, but a taste we have become used to. Steve (of course), grabbed a glass and took a big swig, his eyes suddenly expanding to the size of silver dollars. “That’s NOT Kefir!” he managed to gasp after he caught his breath. Yes, you guessed it, our two dear new friends had asked the hotel staff to bring us tall glasses of kymyz as part of our lunch.

Since we doubt most of you will ever have the experience of drinking kymyz, we offer our formal review:

Kymyz’ appearance resembles traditional cow’s milk before it has been homogenized, but with a thinner consistency.

The kymyz first encounters the tongue with strong, tangy notes of 7-Up and grapefruit, and then transforms on the palette into a pungent essence of smoked gouda and parmesan cheeses with an alcohol-vapor finish. The effect lingers … and is then revisited.

A drink like no other!

As an added bonus, we have provided a video of Tonya taking her first drink of kymyz:

Kymyz is an acquired taste! However, it is definitely an experience worth having. Like so many things we have encountered here, it helps deepen our understanding of this wonderful culture and our children's heritage.

Steve and Tonya