Researchers Analyze Bulgaria’s Traditional “Ant Yogurt” Recipe

KONGENS LYNGBY, DENMARK—According to a Gizmodo report, microbiologist Leonie J. Jahn of the Technical University of Denmark and her colleagues collaborated with chefs from The Alchemist, a restaurant in Denmark serving “ant yogurt,” in order to analyze the traditional recipe from Bulgaria. The researchers traveled to a village in Bulgaria—the home of one of the team members—to learn more about the process, which had been handed down through oral tradition. The local people explained that the recipe employs Formica rufa, or red wood ants, which are common in the region. When the scientists returned to Denmark, they replicated the traditional ant yogurt recipe by first adding four live ants to a jar of warm, raw milk, and covering the jar with cheesecloth. The jar was then placed in an ant mound, where the milk was left to sour and then become yogurt. Jahn said that analysis of the resulting product’s microbiome revealed that the ants contributed formic acid, which helped the yogurt to coagulate, and lactic and acetic acids, which accelerated fermentation. The researchers also attempted to make yogurt with frozen and dehydrated ants, but found that the yogurt did not ferment correctly. “Every seemingly small detail [of the process] actually had an impact on the safety and flavor of the resulting yogurts, highlighting the wisdom embedded in the traditions,” Jahn explained. Read the original scholarly article about this research in iScience. To read how tropical fire ants spread across the globe, go to "Ant Explorers."