People were rearing cattle including
goats, sheep and cows and different dairy products were
prepared to use as daily routine meal:
-
Zharz (Milk): Milk was
an important part of daily food. Milk was used as
ingredient with
different traditional foods as well as used with
bread as routine meal.
-
Pie (Yogurt):
Yogurt was prepared by processing milk and were
used as routine meal with bread.
-
Dhigh (Buttermilk):
This was also used with bread as daily meal.
Traditionally, this was prepared by putting
yogurt in Yazn (made from goat or
sheep skin). Which was shaken or rolled on the ground
until butter forms. An alternate method uses
Sughu (a tall, narrow wooden cylinder) and
Pidhar (a long, thick pole) in a process much like
churning butter. Nowadays, dhigh is prepared
in China made equipments.
-
Maska (Butter): This is the fresh butter prepared from
yogurt and is used to prepare other food items.
-
Thalgh Rughon (Old
Butter): This is aged butter that is buried in
ground wrapped in birch bark and left inside for
years. Its strong taste is so
valued that this type of butter was gifted during weddings
and other occasions. During Mirdom butter was
paid as tax to Mir. The older
the butter, the more valuable it was.
-
Qarooth:
This is a sour and rock-hard cheese that is used to
flavor soups and also used in many other traditional
foods. This is prepared by boiling buttermilk for longer
time together with a piece of older Qarooth. The
resulting soft pasties are pressed and sun-dried. The
dried or fresh qarooth are mixed with water
and salt to prepare qarootha samik .Pieces of
breads are mixed with samik
and used as meal.
-
Burus: This is
prepared by boiling buttermilk without mixing
qarooth. Burus is used with other
traditional foods as well as separately with beard.
-
Piyigh: This
is prepared by
boiling the milk of cattle given birth.
-
Meat (Gushth):
Meat was an important part of local food. Before start
of winter the families were slaughtering 2-3 sheep or
goats and the meat were stored and used through out the winter.
The taste of this meat differs from fresh meat.
-
Mirik
(milk cream):
The mirik of pasture is very tasty and valued as
compare to house made.
-
Jighay: This special product is prepared
when the flocks are coming back to village from
pasture. The people who were herding the flocks of
neighbors and relatives gift this to them.