🥛 Öröm

Öröm (urum) is a thick Mongolian cream skin lifted from milk that has been heated and left to cool. As FAO describes it, it is a yellowish, smooth product with a fresh taste, containing 67–75% fat and only 15–25% water. Öröm is made all over Mongolia from cow's, sheep's or goat's milk.

Raw whole milk is strained, heated to 90 °C and taken off the fire. As it cools, it is scooped up and poured back with a ladle to build a thick foam. The skin that sets on top is öröm: it is lifted off until no new layer forms on the milk. The Japanese researcher Hirata describes this separation of cream by heating as the basis of Khalkha nomads' dairy cooking; the skimmed remainder is then used to make dried curd.

Öröm is an ancient food: FAO calls it traditional “since time immemorial”, and in 1987 Mongolia produced 2,525 t of öröm to state standards. It is still the main animal fat in the diet: in a 2025 survey, öröm accounted for about 62.9% of all animal fat the participants ate. FAO lists similar products from South Asia, and its closest European relative is English clotted cream.

Öröm or butter? They are close relatives but not twins: butter is churned from cream, öröm is the skin lifted from heated milk and ladled into a foam, and it holds 67–75% fat with only 15–25% water. Spread on bread, it can stand in for butter. The nearest European cousin is English clotted cream, and FAO lists similar products from South Asia. Unlike a European cream, öröm is made at home from cow's, sheep's or goat's milk and eaten at breakfast with salty milk tea or fried boortsog pastries.

There is no protected label for öröm, so go by the name on the pack: “öröm”, “urum” or Mongolian cream skin, with milk as the only ingredient. A fat content of 67–75% is what FAO describes. It is rarely on ordinary shelves; look in Mongolian or Central Asian food shops, specialist importers and markets, and check the date, since it keeps about 30 days in a cool place.

Why it matters to you. Öröm is eaten at breakfast: added to salty milk tea, eaten with fried boortsog pastries, spread on bread instead of butter or mixed with dried curd. In a cool place it keeps for about 30 days (FAO). With 67–75% fat it is very filling: the authors of the 2025 study note that Mongolians often exceed saturated-fat limits, so öröm is best eaten in moderation.