Kımız (Mare’s Milk)

Kımız (Mare’s Milk): A drink of fermented mare’s milk, kımız has a very ancient history among the Turks of Central Asia. Islam was probably responsible for its decline, since horsemeat and mare’s milk were, while not actually forbidden, regarded as undesirable by the Arabs. It survived, however, among the non-Ottoman T…urkish peoples of Central Asia. The drink remains important to the people of the Central Asian steppes, including the Turks, Bashkirs, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, Mongols, Yakuts and Uzbeks. It was also consumed by Hungarian tribes.