chal

The tradition & historical record

Chal, also shubat or khoormog (Kazakh: шұбат, şūbat, pronounced [ʂo̙bɑt], Mongolian: хоормог, khoormog, pronounced [χɔ̙ːrmɞ̙k]), is a Turkic (especially Turkmen, Uzbek and Kazakh) and Mongolic beverage of fermented camel milk, sparkling white with a sour flavor, popular in Central Asia — particularly in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. In Kazakhstan the drink is known as shubat, and is a staple summer food. Due to preparation requirements and perishable nature, chal has proved difficult to export. Agaran (fermented cream) is collected from the surface of chal. ¹

Fermented chal is reputed to possess virucidal and virus inhibiting properties not found in fresh camel or cow milk, both in its liquid and lyophilized form — a characteristic which is (reputedly) unaffected by shelf life. Chal is typically prepared by first souring camel milk in a skin bag or ceramic jar by adding previously soured milk. For 3–4 days, fresh milk is mixed in; the matured chal will consist of one third to one fifth previously soured milk. Camel milk will not sour for up to 72 hours at temperatures below 10 °C (50 °F). At 30 °C (86 °F) the milk sours in approximately 8 hours (compared to cow's milk, which sours within 3 hours). A comparison of the composition of camel milk and camel chal: ¹

Dornic acidity is used to describe acidity in milk products, with 1 Dornic degree (1°D) equal to 0.1g of lactic acid per liter. The chal contained Lactobacilli lactic; streptococci and yeast. Chal may be cultured with lactobacillus casei, streptococcus thermophilus, and lactose-fermenting yeasts incubating in inoculated milk for 8 hours at 25 °C (77 °F), and then subsequently for 16 hours at 20 °C (68 °F). Holder pasteurization does not affect the quality of the milk, but pasteurization at higher temperatures (85 °C/185 °F) for 5 minutes negatively impacts flavour. Chal made from pure cultures of lactobacillus casei, streptococcus thermophilus, and species of torula has markedly less non-fat solids and lactose than the milk from which it is made. ¹

The text above is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Chal”, available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 licence. ¹

chal is Turkic beverage of fermented camel milk, according to the structured record cited below. This entry was generated automatically from that record and has not yet been reviewed by a person familiar with the tradition. ²

The source record links this tradition to 2 external registers, which can be verified through the citation. ²