traditional spontaneously fermented products
may involve a dozen or more different
microbes, the industrial versions are usually
limited to two or three. This biological
narrowing may affect flavor, consistency, and
health value.
Families of Fresh
Fermented Milks
Unlike most cheeses (p. 51), which undergo
several stages of manipulation and continue to
evolve for weeks or months, fresh fermented
milks are usually finished and ready for eating
within hours or days. A recent encyclopedia
catalogued several hundred different kinds!
Most of them originated in western Asia,
eastern Europe, and Scandinavia, and have
been carried across the globe by countless
emigrants, many of whom dipped a cloth in
their family’s culture, dried it gently, and
guarded it until they could moisten it in the