Inner Mongolia Butter

Inner Mongolia Butter

　　Inner Mongolia Butter

　　Butter, called "xīr tāosū" (希日陶苏) in Mongolian, has a unique, pure, and fragrant taste, is rich in nutrients, and is considered a delicacy served to guests by herders. Butter can be extracted from milk skin, from white oil, or from the oily layer that forms on fresh milk when it coagulates.

　　To extract butter from fresh milk, the milk is poured into a cylindrical container. A stick with a round disc at one end is inserted into the milk or sheep's milk with the disc side down, and the mixture is stirred continuously up and down. After several hundred stirs, some white semi-solid matter will float to the surface. This is skimmed off with a sieve, the moisture is squeezed out, and after further refining, it becomes butter.

　　If extracting from milk skin, once enough has been collected, it is dried over the summer, then boiled in a pot while being stirred slowly. Gradually, two layers will separate in the pot: an upper yellow layer and a lower white layer. The yellow fat is the butter. The white layer is called sour oil. If extracting from white oil, the white oil is heated in a pot to refine it. The white oil is poured into the pot and slowly simmered over low heat, stirred frequently with a spoon. When the steam dissipates and the color turns slightly yellow, it is done. To prevent overcooking and a burnt taste, a handful of amusu (a type of mixed porridge) is added during the process to absorb moisture from the white oil. The cooked amusu is called butter residue. Because it is high in fat and strong in acidity, it can be added to tea and drunk. If extracting from the oily layer that forms on coagulated fresh milk, first the floating oil layer on the freshly squeezed milk is skimmed off and poured into a pot. It is then heated gently while stirring. Once it boils, the butter floats to the top while the residue sinks. The butter is skimmed off, and what remains is also butter residue—but this type is very sour.

　　Butter is extremely nutritious and is considered the crown of dairy products. It takes about fifty or sixty pounds of yogurt to produce just two pounds of butter, which shows how precious it is. For convenience, herders often store butter in containers or in the stomachs of cattle or sheep. Butter helps to generate body heat and prolong life. In the cold winter months, when people and livestock are frozen stiff, butter tea or butter wine is often consumed to revive them. By August, butter is stored in the small stomachs of sheep to preserve it. When ready to eat, it is opened—since it has not been exposed to air, it remains pristine, moist, sweet, and delicious.