With its mild tart flavor and smooth, creamy texture, filmjölk is a fermented milk product from Sweden that's quickly becoming popular worldwide. Fortunately, it's also easy to make.
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What is filmjölk?
Swedish filmjölk is a cultured dairy product that dates to the Viking age. Simply translated, it means "sour milk," but it's much more than that. Rather, it's a room-temperature yogurt with a smooth, buttery flavor and mild sour taste.
It is made by fermenting cow's milk with a starter culture that contains specific strains of lactic acid bacteria. These beneficial bacteria also give it a slightly tart and thickened consistency. Consider it a traditional drinkable yogurt.
Despite dating back centuries, it's still popular in Nordic countries today, where it's often eaten for breakfast. It's a great alternative to traditional homemade yogurt because it's easy to make and requires no expensive equipment. You just mix the milk with a starter in your jar and wait.
Why you'll love it
- It's old-school cool - like Viking-era cool. While it's massively popular in Northern Europe, it's just gaining popularity in the States.
- You're unlikely to find it at the grocery store, so it's the perfect traditional cultured dairy food to DIY.
- Filmjölk is easy to make. It is a mesophilic yogurt, which is a fancy way of saying that it ferments at room temperature.
- You don't need a yogurt maker or any other expensive gadgets. All you need is a quart-sized jar with a tight-fitting lid.
- It's good for you and is an excellent source of probiotics, as well as protein, vitamins, and minerals. It's also lower on the glycemic index than milk.
- It's a probiotic powerhouse thanks to a wide variety of bacteria. These beneficial microorganisms the digestive system in addition to conveying several other health benefits.
- It tastes milder than yogurt, similar to thicker, tangier milk, with a consistency that's both drinkable and spoonable.
What's in it?
To make filmjolk, you only need a few simple ingredients: a quart of milk and a starter. That's it.
- Fresh milk is the foundation for any cultured dairy food. Filmjolk is traditionally made with cow's milk, though you can make it with goat milk, too. Pasteurized milk and UHT milk work particularly. The pasteurization process denatures milk proteins, and as a result, it thickens more easily when cultured. If you use raw milk, you will need to scald it first.
- Filmjölk culture inoculates the milk with various strains of beneficial bacteria such as Leuconostoc mesenteroides cremoris and Lactococcus lactis. This special culture gives filmjölk its characteristic tangy flavor and custard-like texture. You need to purchase a filmjölk culture and then save a little from a previous batch for a new batch.
Where to Buy a Starter
As a traditional fermented milk product, you're unlikely to find filmjölk in grocery stores outside of northern Europe. So, you'll need to purchase an heirloom culture online unless you're lucky enough to receive one from a friend.
Cultures for Health is a great source for probiotic cultures, especially mesophilic cultures, which tend to be harder to find.
Recipe Tips
- Heat your milk and let it cool to room temperature. While you can certainly mix the starter culture into fresh milk and wait, you'll find more consistent results when you heat your milk to 180 F and let it cool to room temperature before adding the starter. It helps to reorganize the milk's protein structure so that it thickens more easily when cultured. Also, it'll kill off any stray microbes that might
- Whole milk gives the best flavor and texture. All the healthy fats in whole milk contribute flavor and a thickened texture to the final product.
- Add the starter to the milk only when it reaches room temperature. Otherwise, you might kill off the good bacteria.
- Mind the temperature in your home. Mesophilic yogurts culture best at about 70 to 77 F (21 to 25 C). Cooler temperatures will slow down the fermentation process or stop it altogether. Higher temperatures may speed up fermentation but result in sharper flavor and an off-putting, curdled texture.
- Have patience. Sometimes, it takes a few batches for your starter to establish itself.
- It's finished in about 24 hours, or until the filmjolk separates cleanly from the sides of the jar when you tilt it.
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Serving Suggestions
Filmjölk is traditionally served at breakfast time with muesli, granola, and fruit such as berries.
Its buttery flavor makes it an excellent partner to dark chocolate granola, and it's delicious served with fresh berries. It is less spoonable than regular yogurt and acts like a slightly thickened probiotic milk. In this way, it's a great addition to smoothies
It partners well with fresh berries and is a delicious choice for a strawberry yogurt bowl or in yogurt panna cotta.
If you're looking for something savory, it's a good alternative to kefir in this homemade kefir ranch dressing.
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Recipe Questions
No. You need to use regular milk. Dairy products are the primary ingredient in cultured dairy foods. Plant-based milk alternatives do not contain the proper ratio of fat, sugar, and protein to make an equivalent product.
You can, but it's not recommended. The expansive variety of bacteria in raw milk will compete with the specific strains of bacteria in the starter culture. As a result, raw milk's native flora alters the texture and flavor of filmjölk over time. It's best to use pasteurized milk or to heat the milk to 180 F before culturing it.
Keep it in a tightly sealed container in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.
Filmjölk, like other homemade yogurts, will last for about 2 weeks in the fridge.
No. Filmjölk starter culture contains several strains of lactobacillus bacteria, while kefir contains both beneficial bacteria and yeast strains.
Additionally, filmjölk is self-culturing, meaning that you can reserve a little from one batch to start the next batch. By contrast, milk kefir requires a SCOBY (symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast) called kefir grains to culture properly.
Filmjölk tends to be thinner than yogurt, milder in flavor, and less sour. Additionally, you culture it at room temperature, whereas yogurt requires consistently elevated heat of about 110 F.
Janie says
This is better than the regular yogurt I used to make. I'm wondering about skyr next?
Shirley Gilbert says
I tried my best on the Cultures for Health website to get a recipe for filmjolk but failed to do so. So I went online and found you. Thank you for your simple recipe. I will try it this week. My mother used to make it all the time. I hope I can do as well as she did. I will let you know how it turns out.
Shirley Gilbert
Lyn says
Can you over ferment filmjolk?
Jenny McGruther says
Yes. It will taste extremely sour and may have an unpleasant texture. If left too long in the fridge, it can also mold.