Yakbutter

As yak butter is referred to the different butter preparations made ​​from yak milk. Is used for the production of yak butter both unhomogenisierte and unpasteurized and boiled yak milk and fermented milk precursors.

Yak milk, the fat content of higher than that of cow's milk. It is therefore particularly suitable for the manufacture of butter, and other fat products. In the production of butter, there are regionally divergent method. In Nepal, the milk is boiled before churning and leavened with a starter culture mostly in the form of yogurt. The milk curdles thereby. The following day the curd is churned in a butter churn. When churning the butter from the buttermilk separates. The washed butter lumps are traditionally kept in bags from Yak or goatskin.

The Mongolian cuisine also knows a clarified butter that has similarity to Indian ghee. This so-called Sar Tos is made from Öröm. Öröm the milk is similar to the production of clotted cream, also only heated and skimmed, the cream. The cream is collected for the preparation of Sar Tos over time, and this fermented. By melting the Öröms a clarified butter is obtained, which is often enjoyed in salted butter tea.

Yak butter is also used in religious ceremonies. It is used for example in Buddhist ceremonies as fuel in small bulbs and is also one of the ritual offerings. Butter is used for hair care and in the production of leather from Yakhäuten. Yak butter is also an important commodity for some of the peoples of Central Asia. Until the closure of the border after the annexation of Tibet by China in 1950 for example, a brisk trade between Nepal and the Buddhist monasteries of Tibet took place. The yakhaltende Nepalese people exchanged this yak butter especially against a salt. After the closure of the border with tape trading, small cheese factories were built to handle the surplus of milk in a meaningful way with the help of Switzerland.