Ymer is a
Danish soured milk product with 6 percent protein. Compared to standard yogurt, it has a thicker, creamier consistency and a higher protein content. It has a slightly buttery taste and may be very subtly fizzy due to slight
carbonation from the lactic fermentation. It was launched commercially in the 1930s. It is made by fermenting whole milk with the
bacterial culture
Lactococcus lactis.
Ymer is named after the primordial being
Ymir in
Norse mythology
Norse, Nordic, or Scandinavian mythology, is the body of myths belonging to the North Germanic peoples, stemming from Old Norse religion and continuing after the Christianization of Scandinavia as the Nordic folklore of the modern period. The ...
. In 1937,
dairyman
E. Larsen in
Hatting registered his new soured milk product as ''ymer;'' the name was then used by other dairies that began making the product. Modern Danes will usually be more familiar with ymer as the name of the dairy product than as a creature of the Norse mythology.
Industrially, it is made with the help of a starter culture, which is today -- rather than full milk -- added to
skimmed milk (milk of typically 0.1 % fat content). It is kept at 18 °C until the
pH drops to 4.6. The serum is broken down and drained after fermentation, and cream is added to adjust the fat content. Unlike other fermented milk products, ymer is drained of its whey. That means that ymer has a higher content of solids, including
protein
Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comprise one or more long chains of amino acid residue (biochemistry), residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including Enzyme catalysis, catalysing metab ...
, while the
fat content stays at 3.5% as in whole milk.
Ymer is mostly eaten for breakfasts or as a snack, but can be used in all ways as an alternative to yogurt, in desserts, dressings and baking. A traditional dessert is (''fromage'' meaning dessert cream in Danish), in which the ymer is mixed with sugar, gelatin and cream.
The traditional breakfast topping is ("ymer sprinkle"), which is a mix of lightly toasted
rugbrød breadcrumbs and brown sugar. One
deciliter of ymer contains 146 kJ (35 kilocalories).
See also
*
List of dairy products
References
* Barry A. Law (Editor): Microbiology and biochemistry of cheese and fermented milk. Springer, Heidelberg 1997.
* Adnan Tamime (Editor): Structure of Dairy Products. Blackwell Publishing, Oxford 2007.
Fermented dairy products
Danish cuisine
Ymir
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