Xining Old-Style Yogurt

Xining old-style yogurt is made from highland yak or cattle milk and fermented with traditional cultures, set in a bowl or small jar with a pale-yellow skin of cream on top, thick as cream and tangy-sweet on the tongue with a deep dairy fragrance—a yogurt to be eaten with a spoon, not drunk.

Qinghai's herding regions have long lived on yak and cattle milk, with Tibetans and Mongols handing down dairy-fermentation skills. Xining old-style yogurt carries on this highland dairy tradition, served in bowls with its tell-tale cream skin, and has become one of the best-loved sweets on Xining's streets and markets.

The set yogurt is eaten by the spoonful, dusted with sugar or layered with tianpeizi and raisins so the sweet-tart and milky fragrances mingle, a classic for cooling down in summer or closing a meal.

The pale-yellow cream skin, the cream-thick texture and tangy-rich dairy fragrance, and its classic pairing with tianpeizi are the hallmarks of Xining old-style yogurt.