Fermented milk products

Fermented milk products, also known as cultured dairy foods, cultured dairy products, or cultured milk products, are dairy foods that have been fermented with lactic acid bacteria such as Lactobacillus, Lactococcus, and Leuconostoc. The fermentation process increases the shelf-life of the product, as well as adds to the taste and improves the digestibility of milk. There is evidence that fermented milk products have been produced since around 10,000 BC. A range of different Lactobacilli strains has been grown in laboratories allowing for a wide range of cultured milk products with different tastes.

Many different types of cultured milk products can be found around the world including:


 * yoghurt
 * 🇺🇸🇨🇦 cultured buttermilk (sometimes called buttermilk)
 * 🇺🇸🇨🇦 acidophilus milk
 * 🇧🇬 kiselo mlyako
 * 🇩🇪 sauermilch or dickmilch
 * 🇳🇱 zure melk
 * 🇷🇴 lapte bătut
 * 🇸🇪 filmjölk (fil is the short form of filmjölk)
 * 🇳🇴 surmelk or kulturmelk
 * 🇫🇮 piimä and viili
 * 🇿🇦 amasi ("maas" in Afrikaans)
 * 🇮🇷 doogh

Many types of cultured milk may be used in the same way as yoghurt, that is, eaten from a bowl using a spoon (with cereals, muesli or corn flakes) or drunk from a glass. Sugar and fruit flavors may be added to the marketed product. Cultured milk can also be used as an ingredient in a recipe.

Some cultured milk variants contain live bacteria which has a stabilising effect on the intestinal flora.

Some cultured milk variants have been found to have health promoting effects. For example, Seppo et al (2003) found that milk cultured with Lactobacillus helveticus LBK-16 H contains peptides (casokinins and lactokinins) that act as naturally occurring ACE inhibitors and hence have an antihypertensive effect.

Comparison chart
* Streptococcus lactis has been renamed to Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis