CHAL~ A Traditional Camel Milk Product of Turkmens’ Cameleers

Turkmen! A Traditional Nomadic Community of Central Asia

Turkmen is a native community of central Asia, predominantly live in Turkmenistan but a sizable number is also found in Afghanistan, and Iran, followed by Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. Turkmens are very traditional and have strong connections with livestock and animal agriculture. They are a strong and long-traveling nomadic clan of Central Asia and the custodian of the precious sheep, goat, cattle, and camel genetic resources. A major portion of the community is settled in the towns and some are in transition but still, a sizable portion of the community loves livestock keeping in a nomadic style. The community is practicing camel nomadism for ages and owns a very famous and good milking camel breed, the Aravan.

Importance of Camel Milk in Turkmen Community

The Turkmen Cameleer Nomads love camel and camel milk. They, like other camel keepers of the world, have their traditional camel milk product called CHAL written in Turkmen is CALY.

The author reported this story from the Northeaster Iran, dominated by the Turkmen nomads. For more interest, one can read the country camel report of Iran, prepared by Mahnaz Salehi https://arkbiodiv.com/2016/06/19/the-multipurpose-camels-of-iran-world-camels-day/amp/

CHAL

The Turkmen cameleers use fresh camel milk to prepare Chal. It is sour camel milk prepared traditionally. It is the same as Shubat in Kazakhstan. After preparation, it has a white color like other milk products but has a strong sour taste. Chal is a summer staple food, the nomads eat bread while taking sips of the Chal. They think Chal is cold and provides a cold environment to the body from the inside. The traditional cameleers also consider Chal as anti-infectious and virucidal.

Also, a camel farm with a size of 500 Arvan camels is producing Chal, Agaran, and cream with the brand name Gudratly. To know more, please click on the link. https://business.com.tm/post/4301/

Methodology

There are certain processes, which are considered as the major steps to make the Chal. The processes are given below in the ensuing lines.

• The Fresh camel milk is sourced in a skin bag, mostly sheep or goat skin or a ceramic jar (a modernized container).
• Add already soured milk (more old, more and more strong culture to make Chal). The sour milk may be from camel or other livestock, mainly cow, followed by goat and sheep.
• The mixture is stored in the container as mentioned above, airtight, shaken to properly mix, and stored to get fermented.
• In the meanwhile fresh camel milk is added at different intervals for the next 2 to 3 days. But the chal can be used after the 8 hours of fermentation, though more time means more stronger and delicious Chal.
• Camel milk fermentation needs a longer period than the other milks, i.e. the cow milk needs 4 hours to be fermented but for the same amount the camel milk needs double time, 8 hours at 30 centigrade temperature.
• If the weather is cooler, then it needs more time to be fermented as camel milk needs more than 72 hours at 10 C temperature to be fermented.
• If strong and highly sour milk is used for fermentation, then a thick layer appears on the surface of the Chal, which is known as AGARAN (fermented fat).
• After the removal of the AGARAN, the leftover is called Chal which is also called DOUGH in Persian.
• But if we want it to be sourer and tastier we can leave it again for 4 or 8 hours in 20 to 25 c to be more carbonated.

This fermented product of camel milk is very beneficial for gut and colon health; reduces cholesterol and high blood pressure and even has anti-diabetes effects. Also, as mentioned above, the nomadic community believes that it works as anti-infectious and antiviral. https://camel4milk.wordpress.com/2016/05/02/value-of-camel-milk-in-central-asian-traditional-medica/amp/

You can see the composition of plain camel milk and Chal which will give you more clarity about the value of the Chal. To know more about the Chal, here is the Wikipedia link. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chal