View source for Kashk

{{distinguish-otheruses2|Keşkek|Kashk}}
{{Infobox prepared food
| name             = Kashk
| image            = [[File:Kesk-meledi1.jpg|250px]]
| caption          = Kurdish women preparing kashk in a village at Turkey
| alternate_name   = Aarul, chortan, dried yoghurt, kishk, qurt, qurut, Aqet
| country          = [[Afghan cuisine|Afghanistan]], [[Armenian cuisine|Armenia]], [[Azerbaijani cuisine|Azerbaijan]], [[Palestinian cuisine|Palestine]], [[Iranian cuisine|Iran]], [[Iraqi cuisine|Iraq]], [[Kazakh cuisine|Kazakhstan]], [[Kyrgyz cuisine|Kyrgyzstan]], [[Lebanese cuisine|Lebanon]], [[Mongolian cuisine|Mongolia]], [[Syrian cuisine|Syria]], [[Turkish cuisine|Turkey]], [[Tajik cuisine|Tajikistan]], [[Turkmen cuisine|Turkmenistan]], [[Uzbek cuisine|Uzbekistan]]
| region           = [[Bashkir cuisine|Bashkortostan]], [[Central Asian cuisine|Central Asia]], [[Kurdish cuisine|Kurdistan]], [[Middle Eastern cuisine|Middle East]] ([[Levantine cuisine|Levant and Arabian Peninsula]]), [[Tatar cuisine|Tatarstan]], [[Tibetan cuisine|Tibet]]
| creator          = 
| course           = 
| type             = [[Gruel]], [[cheese]]
| served           = 
| main_ingredient  = Yoghurt, salt
| variations       = 
| calories         = 
| other            = %21.60- 39.31 water, % 4.5-23.5 fat, %31.22-50.68 protein ve %2.84-13.19 salt<ref name=review_kes>Z. Tarakçı, M. Dervişoğlu, H. Temiz, O. Aydemir, F. Yazıcı. ''Review on Kes Cheese.'' GIDA (2010) 35 (4) 283-288</ref>
}}
[[File:Qurut tajikistan.jpg|thumb|Qurut being sold in [[Tajik cuisine|Tajikistan]]]]
'''Kashk''' ({{lang-fa|کشک}}, {{lang-ku|keşk}}, {{lang-tr|keş peyniri}}), '''qurt''', '''qurut'''  ({{lang-kz|құрт}}, {{lang-tk|gurt}}, {{lang-uz|qurt}}, {{lang-az|qurut}}, {{lang-ba|[[:wikt:ҡорот|ҡорот]]}}, {{lang-ky|курут}}, {{lang-tr|kurut, sürk, taş yoğurt, kurutulmuş yoğurt}}, {{lang-cjs|қурут}}), '''jamid''' ({{lang-ar|جميد، اقط}}), '''chortan''' ({{lang-hy|չորթան}},  [''chor'', meaning "dried", plus ''[[tahn|tan]]'']),  '''aaruul''' ({{lang-mn|ааруул}}) is a range of dairy products used in cuisines of [[Iranian cuisine|Iranian]], [[Turkish cuisine|Turkish]], [[Mongolian cuisine|Mongolian]], [[Central Asian cuisine|Central Asian]],  [[Caucasian cuisine|Transcaucasian]], and the [[Levantine cuisine|Levantine]] peoples. Kashk is made from [[Strained yogurt|drained yogurt]] (in particular, drained [[qatiq]]) or drained [[sour milk]] by forming it and letting it dry.  It can be made in a variety of forms, including rolled into balls, sliced into strips, and formed into chunks.

There are three main kinds of food products with this name: foods based on curdled [[milk]] products like [[yogurt]] or [[cheese]]; foods based on [[barley]] broth, bread, or flour; and foods based on [[cereal]]s combined with curdled milk.

== Uses ==
Kashk is a sort of [[gruel]]<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=IXddqW58bpMC&pg=PA1 Anthony Bryer. ''The Bizantine Porridge''. In: ''Studies in medieval history: presented to R.H.C. Davis'' by Ralph Henry Carless Davis, Henry Mayr-Harting, Robert Ian Moore]</ref> of fresh cheese.<ref name=review_kes /><ref>''[http://www.cbook.ru/peoples/terms/index3.shtml#K Словарь этнографических терминов]'' в энциклопедии ''Народы и религии мира''. Москва, Большая Российская энциклопедия, 1998 (''Dictionary of Ethnological Terms''. In: Encyclopedia ''Peoples and Religions of the World''. Great Russian Encyclopedia publishers, Moscow, 1998; in Russian)</ref> It is eaten plain, but can be used other ways.  For example, it can be dissolved in water and eaten like yogurt. In western parts of Azerbaijan, it's customary to dissolve qurut in water by hand and use the sauce with ''xəngəl'', the traditional [[Azerbaijani cuisine|Azerbaijani]] lasagna-type dish.  Qurut dissolved in water is a primary ingredient of ''[[qurutob]],'' a traditional Persian dish in [[Tajik cuisine|Tajik]], [[Afghan cuisine|Afghan]] and [[Iranian cuisine|Iranian]] cuisine{{citation needed|date=December 2015}} and thought of by some as the national dish of Tajikistan.<ref>{{Cite book|title = The World Cookbook: The Greatest Recipes from Around the Globe, 2nd Edition [4 Volumes]: The Greatest Recipes from Around the Globe|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=GmqEAwAAQBAJ|publisher = ABC-CLIO|date = 2014-01-15|isbn = 9781610694698|first = Jeanne|last = Jacob|first2 = Michael|last2 = Ashkenazi|page = 1342}}</ref> One of the main dishes in Afghanistan is kichree qurut, made with [[mung beans]], [[rice]] and qurut dissolved in water. It is sometimes [[salt]]ed, and in [[Inner Mongolia]] can be flavoured and distributed as [[candy]].

==History==
[[File:Kasachischer Kurt.jpg|thumb|Qurt from [[Kazakh cuisine|Kazakhstan]]]]
Chortan is mentioned in the [[Armenian cuisine|Armenian]] epic poem, ''[[Sasuntsi Davit]]'', as an oral tradition dating from 8th-century, which was first put into written form in 1873. ''Chor'' means dry in the Armenian language. Kashk is also mentioned in the 10th-century Persian book of poetry ''[[Shahnameh]]''. ''Khoshk'' ([[Persian language|Persian]] :  خشک meaning "dry") which indicates that the kashk or kishk is prepared through a drying [خشکیدن] process. Qurut or kurut means dried in Turkic languages.<ref name=review_kes />

==Iran==
[[File:Kashk.JPG|thumb|[[Iranian cuisine|Iranian]] kashk]]
In modern Iran, kashk is a thick whitish liquid similar to [[whey]] or [[sour cream]], used in traditional [[Persian cuisine|Persian]] and [[Kurdish cuisine]], like [[ash reshteh]], [[kashk e badamjan]], kale joush. It is available as a liquid or in a dried form, which needs to be soaked and softened before it can be used in cooking. Kashk was traditionally produced from the leftovers of cheese-making (more specifically, the milk used to make it). The procedure is, subtracting butter from milk, the remainder is [[doogh]] which can be used as the base for kashk. The water is subtracted from this whitish beverage and what remains is kashk which can be dried. Iranian kashk has made an appearance in US markets in the past half-century by several Iranian grocers starting with Kashk Hendessi.

==Turkey==
In [[Turkish cuisine|Turkey]], kashk is a dried yoghurt product also known as ''keş peyniri'', ''kurut'', ''taş yoğurt'', ''kuru yoğurt'', or ''katık keşi''.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Yurdakök |first=Murat |last2= |first2= |date=2013 |title=Yoğurdun öyküsü, probiyotiklerin tarihi |url=http://www.cshd.org.tr/csh/pdf/pdf_CSH_488.pdf |journal=Çocuk Sağlığı ve Hastalıkları Dergisi |publisher=Turkish National Pediatric Society |volume= |issue= |pages=46 |doi= |accessdate=14 December 2014}}/</ref> Its contents and production vary by region. In western and northern Turkey, especially in [[Bolu]], the product is categorized as a cheese owing to its shape and white color. In eastern Turkey, especially [[Erzincan]], [[Erzurum]], and [[Kars]], kurut is produced from skimmed yoghurt made from the whey left over from production of butter by the ''yayık'' method,<ref>Karabulut I, Hayaloğlu AA, Yıldırım H. 2007. ''Thinlayer drying characteristics of kurut, a Turkish dried dairy by-product.'' Int J Food Sci Technol, 42, 1080–1086.</ref> and then crushed or rolled.  In parts of southeastern Turkey with a significant Kurdish population, it is called ''keşk''. All versions of this dairy product are salty. It is used as an ingredient in soups, [[keşkek]], [[erişte]], etc.

There is also a closely related dried food product called [[tarhana]] which is based on a fermented mixture of grain and yoghurt or fermented milk. It is very similar to ''kishk'' of the Levantine cuisine described below.

==Levant and Arabian Peninsula==
In [[Lebanese cuisine|Lebanon]], [[Palestinian cuisine|Palestine]], Arabian Peninsula and [[Syrian cuisine|Syria]], ''kishk'' is a powdery cereal of [[bulgur|burghul]] (cracked wheat) fermented with milk and [[Leben (milk product)|laban]] (yogurt), usually from goat milk. It is easily stored and is valuable to the winter diet of isolated villagers or country people. Kishk is prepared in early autumn following the preparation of burghul. Milk, laban and burghul are mixed well together and allowed to ferment for nine days. Each morning the mixture is thoroughly kneaded with the hands. When fermentation is complete the kishk is spread on a clean cloth to dry. Finally it is rubbed well between the hands until it is reduced to a powder and then stored in a dry place. In [[Jordanian cuisine|Jordan]] a dried yogurt similar to kashk called [[jameed]] is commonly used. Elsewhere in the Levant, similar products are referred to as drained [[Labneh#Middle East|labneh]] (''labneh malboudeh'').

==Bibliography==
* Karabulut I., Hayaloğlu A. A., Yıldırım H. ''Thinlayer drying characteristics of kurut, a Turkish dried dairy by-product.'' Int J Food Sci Technol, 42 (2007), 1080–1086.
* Françoise Aubaile-Sallenave, ''Al-Kishk: the past and present of a complex culinary practice'', in Sami Zubaida and Richard Tapper, ''A Taste of Thyme: Culinary Cultures of the Middle East'', London and New York, 1994 and 2000, ISBN 1-86064-603-4.
*Liu W J, Sun Z H, Zhang Y B, Zhang C L, Menghebilige, Yang M, Sun T S, Bao Q H, Chen W, Zhang H P. ''A survey of the bacterial composition of kurut from Tibet using a culture-independent approach.'' J Dairy Sci. 2012 Mar, 95(3), 1064-72. {{doi|10.3168/jds.2010-4119}}.

==See also==
* [[Frumenty]]
* [[Gachas]], a [[Lathyrus]] gruel consumed since ancient times in parts of the [[Iberian Peninsula]]
* [[Kasha]]
* [[Keşkek]], a related meat-and-grain stew in Iranian, Turkish and Greek cuisines
* [[List of yogurt-based dishes and beverages]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Yogurts}}
[[Category:Fermented dairy products]]
[[Category:Cheeses]]
[[Category:Armenian cuisine]]
[[Category:Afghan cuisine]]
[[Category:Azerbaijani cuisine]]
[[Category:Bashkir cuisine]]
[[Category:Central Asian cuisine]]
[[Category:Iranian cuisine]]
[[Category:Kazakhstani cuisine]]
[[Category:Kurdish cuisine]]
[[Category:Kyrgyz cuisine]]
[[Category:Lebanese cuisine]]
[[Category:Middle Eastern cuisine]]
[[Category:Mongolian cuisine]]
[[Category:Palestinian cuisine]]
[[Category:Syrian cuisine]]
[[Category:Tajik cuisine]]
[[Category:Tatar cuisine]]
[[Category:Turkmenistan cuisine]]
[[Category:Uzbekistani cuisine]]
[[Category:Yogurt-based dishes]]