Ejiao butter from E Zuqi

Ejiao butter from E Zuqi

　　Ejiao butter from E Zuqi

　　Butter is the essence of fresh milk, containing all the essential nutrients required by living organisms. It is the most precious and is served as a costly delicacy for honored guests or during major festivals.

　　Butter was called “tihu” in ancient times. During the Yuan Dynasty, tihu was included among the “Eight Northern Delicacies” for imperial meals and considered a premium gourmet food. The famous Tang Dynasty poet Du Fu, after tasting tihu, spontaneously composed the poem “Ode to the Guest Room at Dazhi Temple,” praising it: “Tihu fosters growth, surpassing food in reviving decline.” Butter is not only a fine delicacy but also has certain medicinal properties and broad practical value. The Ming Dynasty physician Li Shizhen recorded in “Compendium of Materia Medica · Beast I”: “‘Tihu, as quoted by Kou Zong: When making cheese, the first layer that coagulates on top is su (cream), and what floats on the cream like oil is tihu. It is extracted by boiling and is hard to come by, extremely sweet and delicious.’” Butter has the functions of moistening the lungs, relieving coughs, and providing nourishment. Gu Kuang wrote in his poem “Hard is the Journey”: “Who would have thought that an anointment of tihu could bring cool relief and soothe the head?” The phrase “tihu guan ding” (an enlightenment or baptism by tihu) may have originated from this. In Buddhism, “tihu guan ding” is often used metaphorically to describe the imparting of wisdom that leads to profound realization and attainment of the highest Buddhist state. Therefore, butter is also the best offering to the Buddha. In the daily life of Mongolian residents, butter is an indispensable item.

　　Because butter is so precious, its production method is naturally very particular. First, freshly squeezed milk is filtered several times through gauze and then fermented into yogurt. Then, two basins of fresh milk are boiled, cooled to a warm temperature, and poured together with one basin of yogurt into a milk churn. The churn is then sealed with a lid. At this point, the maker begins stirring the mixture continuously up and down with a wooden stick inside the churn. If the milk mixture is too cold, the churn is placed in sunlight or near a stove to warm it before continuing to stir, until the cream originally dissolved in the milk floats to the surface. Then the lid is removed, and the fat is scooped out with both hands and placed in a basin, followed by rinsing in cold water. Since the cream hardens in cold water, it needs to be kneaded vigorously during rinsing. After several rinses, the milk and cream separate completely, and the butter is made. Typically, only five or six pounds of butter can be extracted from one hundred pounds of fresh milk. For convenience in eating, the butter is often stored in containers or cleaned sheep stomachs and sealed. For long-term storage, keeping the butter at minus fifteen degrees Celsius is most suitable.

　　Butter can be eaten by spreading it on hot steamed buns, mixing it into milk tea, or pairing it with Western dishes, offering a uniquely fragrant taste.