🧑‍🤝‍🧑 Bashkirs

The Bashkirs are a Turkic people of the Southern Urals. Historically they were semi-nomadic: in winter they lived in villages, and in spring they moved with their herds to summer pastures called yaylau. Large herds of horses were the backbone of their economy, and mare’s milk was an important summer food.

Kumis (ҡымыҙ) is the Bashkirs’ national drink. It is made in wooden tubs or leather vessels and churned with a stirrer. Since the 19th century the region has had kumis sanatoriums, where people came to drink kumis to improve their health; today scientists study its properties, but the evidence for its therapeutic effect remains limited.

Besides kumis, Bashkirs make katyk from boiled cow’s milk, korot (kurt), a dried fermented milk cheese, eremsek, a curd cheese made from whey, and clarified butter. The summer festival of Sabantuy is never without kumis and dairy treats.