Culture shock: how ants can be used to turn milk into yogurt, but don’t try at home
Researchers tested a traditional fermentation method that involves dropping wood ants into milk to create new cultures. It worked
Drop four ants into warm milk, wait a while – and voilà, you have yogurt.
Researchers from the University of Copenhagen and the Technical University of Denmark have taken a closer look at this traditional fermentation method, which originates in Turkey and the Balkans, and published their findings in the journal iScience.
Warning: do not try this at home.
The researchers travelled to the Bulgarian hometown of their co-author and anthropologist Sevgi Mutlu Sirakova, where her relatives and other locals explained the tradition.
“We dropped four whole ants into a jar of warm milk at the instruction of Sevgi’s uncle and community members,” said lead author Veronica Sinotte of the University of Copenhagen.
According to the researchers, the glass was then placed overnight in an anthill – a warm environment that provides the right conditions for fermentation.