Kaymak

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Kaymak

Kaymak from Turkey
Alternative names	Malai
Course	Breakfast and dessert
Place of origin	Central Asia
Region or state	Iraq, Syria, Iran, India, Mongolia, Georgia, Albania, Greece, Lebanon, North Macedonia, Croatia, Serbia, Romania, Turkey, Bulgaria, Egypt, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, India.
Main ingredients	Milk
Variations	Kaymer, Qaymer, Qeimer, Qaymiq, Qashta, Ashta, Makahan
Media: Kaymak

Kaymak, sarshir, or qashta/ashta (Persian: سَرشیر saršir; Arabic: قشطة qeshta or قيمر geymar; Turkish: Kaymak), is a creamy dairy food similar to clotted cream, made from the milk of water buffalo, cows, sheep, or goats in Central Asia, some Balkan countries, some Caucasus countries, the countries of the Levant, Turkic regions, Iran and Iraq.

The traditional method of making kaymak is to boil the raw milk slowly, then simmer it for two hours over a very low heat. After the heat source is shut off, the cream is skimmed and left to chill (and mildly ferment) for several hours or days. Kaymak has a high percentage of milk fat, typically about 60%. It has a thick, creamy consistency (not entirely compact, because of milk protein fibers) and a rich taste.^[1]