Kefir

[Victor Steinbok]

It is indeed a bit bizarre. Never mind the Gaulified spelling of
"koumiss" or its somewhat restricted definition.

> Etymology:  = French koumis , German kumiss , Polish komis , kumys ,
> Russian kumys , < Tartar kumiz .
>   A fermented liquor prepared from mare's milk, commonly used as a
> beverage by the Tartars and other Asiatic nomadic peoples; also
> applied to a spirituous liquor distilled from this. The fermented
> beverage is used dietetically and medicinally in various diseases, as
> phthisis, catarrhal affections, anæmia, chlorosis, etc., and for these
> purposes imitations are also prepared from asses' milk and cow's milk.

The French, German and Polish are indeed correct, but they are all
derived from Russian sources, so are likely irrelevant. Why Russian?
Same reason as the derivation of "kefir". Kefir came from the Caucuses
via Russian (according to the first OED citation, only in the 1880s).
Koumiss (ku-mys) came from some Turkic languages also via Russian. The
reason is quite simple--the peoples who use these words to describe
their beverages used to live on territories occupied by the Russian
Empire and most of their contacts with the Western world were through
the Russians. Obviously some Turkic tribes live in other parts of Asia
(Turkey, Iran, China, Korea, Mongolia), but the word "kumys" was
borrowed into Russian probably 700 years ago, during the Golden Horde
occupation. Other Turkic words came into the language at the same time
and are still used in Russia and ...er... Turkey. But AFAIK no one in
Turkey drinks horse milk, fresh or fermented, so it does not appear to
have come from Turkish.  Modern Tatar word is kymyz (in Cyrillic
spelling--not kumiz, as OED says) and Turkish is kimiz.

Still, kumys is limited to parts of Central Asia and several "autonomous
regions" within Russian territory that are occupied by Turkic tribes
(Tatars, Buryat). They still drink horsemilk and eat horsemeat
(including sausage made from oat grain, horse blood and offal). It is a
completely liquid, slightly alcoholic fermented beverage, but, as OED
says, the word also refers to the distillate from that liquid.

Kefir, on the other hand, is ubiquitous in /Russian/ consumption--and,
starting in the early 1990s, also with the American natural-food
adherents. Try to find kumys in an American store and you're likely to
be disappointed! So why compare kefir--which is common--to kumys--which
is not? Kefir is also a fermented beverage, but it is somewhat lumpy, as
curds are not strained off, as they are in kumys. It is generally made
from cow's milk, although, I am sure, one can find the goat and sheep
version. It is thinner than yogurt, but thicker than buttermilk, due to
use of different strains of bacteria, lack of straining and thickeners
(most American commercial yogurt--as well as sour cream--is thickened
with starch and various gums; check the label if you want to be sure).
The closest American version to kefir that I found in the early 1990s
was "Bulgarian cultured buttermilk") that I used to get in Berkeley
supermarkets (for some reason, although the brand was the same as in the
rest of the country, only California had that particular product). Now
you can find kefir (mostly made by Lifeway Products, but other brands
are creeping in) in every Whole Foods or equivalent and some major
supermarkets. Still, even kefir is far from achieving the status of
yogurt. It might be different in the UK, but I still see it highly
unlikely that kumys (horse milk, after all) is in any way more familiar.
In Russia--and likely in at least some post-Soviet republics--kefir is
the second most popular dairy product (after milk), followed by sour
cream and soft cheese ("tvorog" in Russian, "twarog" in Polish--closest
American product is Friendship farmers cheese, although I counted /at
least/ 39 different varieties of it in a local Russian store, along with
23 varieties of kefir).

There is no alcohol in kefir at all--or the amount is trivial. Although
fermented, it is not effervescent. It is, however, acidulous, which
might be mistaken for some kind of effervescence. The amount of alcohol
in kumys is nontrivial, or there would be little point in distilling it.
Distilling kefir would be pointless. So that's two more major
differences between the two. Another difference is taste. When I tried
kumys (many years ago), I found the taste quite unpleasant, accompanied
by musty odor. Kefir may be an acquired taste, but it's hardly
unpleasant or musty. The recent wave of "bioactive" products includes
liquid versions (including Activia in Europe, but, apparently, not in
US) that resemble kefir more than yogurt.

OED claims "yogurt" to be of Turkish origin. I thought it might have
been Armenian, as most early yogurt manufacturers in the West (included
Danone [US Dannon] in France and Colombian in the US [Colombo brand in
New England]) were Armenians, but it isn't--in fact, it's not even
called "yogurt" in Armenian (the word is "matsoon", similar to Georgian
"matsoni"--which is not even what GoogleTranslate offers for Georgian).
Buttermilk in Turkic languages is "Ayran" and in Russian "pakhta"
(liquid left over from strained soft cheese, whey, or the more
traditional butter-making runoff--a.k.a "syvorotka"=="serum").  These
are a lot closer to kumys in texture and taste than kefir is. The
Russian word for "matsoon" is "prostokvasha" (literally, "simply
curdled"), although that usually refers to home-made products--packaged
products in stores are identified as "yogurt" or "ya'oort" (in
corresponding Cyrillic, of course), which is an entirely new borrowing
in Russian. There are also difference in flavor and texture (try making
cheese from retail yogurt and you'll see what I mean).

Russians differentiate between at least 8 different kinds of liquid
sour/curdled milk and its variants (strained, unstrained, left over from
straining, several different cultures, based on steamed milk, fresh
milk, etc.)--not including sour cream(s) or added non-dairy flavors.
English has quite a number of words--today--but most of them are of
fairly recent vintage (although koumiss, yogurt and kefir have been used
in English sources for 400 years, their exposure has been quite limited
until the last half century, while whey and buttermilk are quite old).

     VS-)

On 12/14/2011 12:26 PM, Benjamin Barrett wrote:
> The OED definition of "kefir" needs updating. It says:
>
> -----
> An effervescent liquor resembling koumiss, prepared from milk which has been fermented; employed as a medicine or food for invalids.
> -----
>
> I tried two different kefirs over the past two days. Neither struck me as effervescent (though perhaps they actually are) and they certainly are not made from alcohol.
>
> Kefir is a popular in the US, drunk by people regardless of whether they are sick or not.
>
> Benjamin Barrett
> Seattle, WA

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