🧑🤝🧑 Kyrgyz
Also known as: Kyrgyz people, Kirghiz
People of Kyrgyzstan in Central Asia; jailoo summer pastures cover 3.9 million ha, and the main dairy drink is kymyz from mare's milk.
The Kyrgyz are the people of Kyrgyzstan in Central Asia, for whom summer trips with the herds to the jailoo pastures are an age-old part of life. Their main dairy drink is kymyz (koumiss) made from mare's milk, and the most common traditional dishes are ayran, chalap, sary mai, süzmö and kurut.
Jailoo means summer pastures; the officially recognised summer pastures cover about 3.9 million ha of Kyrgyzstan. According to Global Voices (2016), thousands of families leave their homes in the valleys for the summer. On the jailoo, women milk the cows in the morning and prepare kurut, a salted dairy product, and kaymak, thick cream. The kymyz season peaks from about May to the end of July.
Kymyz ferments spontaneously: lactic acid bacteria and yeasts work together, giving a low-alcohol drink, usually 0.6–3% alcohol by volume (review in Foods, 2025). Mare's milk is seasonal and low-yielding; it contains 6–7% lactose and 1.0–1.5% fat. A 2022 review names kymyz, ayran, chalap, sary mai, süzmö and kurut, made from cows' or sheep's milk, as the most common traditional dairy foods of the Kyrgyz; over the last ten years they have returned to traditional celebrations.
Why it matters to you. A lot is written about the benefits of kymyz, but according to a review in Foods (2025), no randomised placebo-controlled trials of kymyz have been done, and the alcohol content varies. So it is a traditional drink that can be enjoyed as part of the culture, but you should not expect it to treat anything.
Facts
| Country | Kyrgyzstan |
|---|---|
| Region | Tian Shan; jailoo summer pastures ≈ 3.9 million ha 3 |
| Duration | Kymyz season: May to the end of July 3 |
| Alcohol (% vol.) | Kymyz: 0.6–3% vol. 2 |
How it connects to milk
🧑🤝🧑 Kyrgyz ← among ← 🐄 Cow → gives → 🥛 Milk
Links
Frequently asked questions
What is the jailoo?
A summer high-mountain pasture. The officially recognised summer pastures cover about 3.9 million ha of Kyrgyzstan (Global Voices, 2016).
When do the Kyrgyz drink kymyz?
The peak is from about May to the end of July, while the jailoo season lasts.
How much alcohol is in kymyz?
Usually 0.6–3% by volume: it ferments spontaneously, with lactic acid bacteria and yeasts.
Is it true that kymyz cures diseases?
This is not proven. According to the Foods (2025) review, the evidence is mostly preclinical and ethnomedical, and there have been no randomised placebo-controlled trials of kymyz.
What is kurut?
A traditional dairy product made from cows' or sheep's milk. Global Voices describes it as a salted cows' milk product prepared on the jailoo.
What to read next
- 🍶 Kumis — A fermented drink made from mare's milk.
- 🧀 Kurt — Dried balls of fermented, strained milk: nomads' food that keeps for months.
- 🐎 Mare — Steppes of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Mongolia. Sweet milk that is made into kumis.
- 🐄 Cow — The world's main source of milk: ≈81 % of global milk output (FAO). High-yielding cows give up to 60 kg of milk a day.
- 🐑 Sheep — Domestic sheep give milk richer than cow’s milk: 6.4 g fat and 5.6 g protein per 100 g, 100 kcal (FAO).
Similar
🧑🤝🧑 Kazakhs · 🧑🤝🧑 Mongols · 🧑🤝🧑 Uzbeks · 🧑🤝🧑 Turkmens · 🧑🤝🧑 Yakuts · 🧑🤝🧑 Palestinians
ℹ️ This page describes the people only through food: what they grow and make, and which foods and drinks matter in their traditions. History, language, religion and other parts of the culture are not covered here.
What it includes
Sources
- Smanalieva J., Iskakova J., Musulmanova M. Milk- and cereal-based Kyrgyz ethnic foods. Int. J. Gastronomy and Food Science, 2022
- Koumiss (Fermented Mare's Milk) as a Functional Food: Bioactive Proteins, Peptides, and Future Perspectives. Foods, 2025
- Global Voices. Kyrgyzstan's Jailoos Are More Than Mere Mountain Meadows (2016)