Abstract
Mare milk originated from female horses, known as mares, to feed their foals during lactation. The health‐promoting characteristics of traditionally fermented mare milk (Chigee) are well known for the function of clinic treatment in the traditional Mongolian medicine. This study was conducted to investigate the production technology of Chigee and to evaluate the nutritional and microbiological characteristics of mare milk and Chigee based on 188 samples. The nutritional analysis of mare milk and Chigee indicated that lactose significantly decreased from 6.95 ± 0.45% to 2.82 ± 1.65% and acidity and alcoholic content significantly increased to 136.72 ± 57.88°T and 1.22 ± 0.7%, respectively, after spontaneous fermentation of mare milk. The microbiological analysis of Chigee showed that the total lactic acid bacteria (LAB) count varied from 5.32 to 8.56 log cfu/ml and total yeast count varied from 2.41 to 6.98 log cfu/ml. Moreover, the acidity of Chigee rose with the increase in LAB count within limits, and high acidity (≥178°T) inhibited the growth of coliforms. These findings provide an understanding of traditional production technology, nutrition, and microbiology that is fundamental for establishing the food standard of Chigee in China and will contribute to standardize the fermentation process for the industrial production of Chigee in the future.
Highlights
Milk and milk products are healthy and nutritional foodstuffs consumed by people around the world
We investigated the artisanal production technology and analyzed nutritional and microbiological properties of mare milk and Chigee based on large-scale sampling
Chigee is produced by spontaneous fermentation of mare milk
Summary
Milk and milk products are healthy and nutritional foodstuffs consumed by people around the world. Chigee, a spontaneously fermented milk product made from mare milk, is popular among the people of Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Kirgizstan, and some regions of Russia and Bulgaria (Danova, Petrov, Pavlov, & Petrova, 2005). Chigee is extensively consumed by the Mongols of the Xilin Gol region of China. It is used as a traditional Mongolian medicine to cure intestinal dyspepsia, hypertension, and dyslipidemia (Rong et al, 2015; Yao et al, 2017). The horse population in Xilin Gol was more than one hundred and fifty thousand in 2019, and mare milk and milk products from this region are notable for their high quality in China. We investigated the artisanal production technology and analyzed nutritional and microbiological properties of mare milk and Chigee based on large-scale sampling. The findings of this research can be exploited by administrative institutions and industries for the establishment of product standard and commercial production of Chigee, respectively
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