Hard, salty dried yogurt balls — the Kazakh nomad's original travel food, made from fermented camel or cow milk and aged until stone-hard, eaten as a snack or dissolved in water for a quick meal.
Kurt is the oldest food in Kazakhstan, predating cities, markets, and kitchens. When Kazakh nomads moved their herds across the steppe with the seasons, they needed food that would not spoil without refrigeration, that was light to carry, and that packed enough protein and fat for hard days of riding. Kurt was the answer. Fermented milk is drained, salted heavily, rolled into balls, and dried in the sun until the exterior is stone-hard. A ball of kurt can last months, even years, without spoiling. On the steppe, it was dissolved in water to make a quick sour drink, or eaten dry as a snack, or crumbled over soup. Today kurt is still made and sold throughout Kazakhstan, in markets and by roadside sellers, in varieties ranging from fresh and soft (the young, white kurt that is mild and approachable) to aged and very hard (the yellow kurt that requires serious jaw work and rewards it with an intense, almost cheese-like depth). Kurt divides visitors to Kazakhstan cleanly into those who love it immediately and those who are shocked by the saltiness. Children grow up eating it like candy.
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