Is This A Thing? Discovering That Dog's Love Yak Cheese
What in the world? This was my first reaction to discovering that Himalayan Yak Chews are the new lastest-and-greatest chew for dogs. Let's make them! I was initially confused... Where do I get Yak milk? Why would my dog like this? And, of course, why might this be a good alternative to rawhide or other dog chews? Are you confused as well? Read on, because I have answers for you!
The History of the Himalayan Yak Dog Chew
Also known as 'Churpi,' the Himalayan chew was initially made for human consumption. It is essentially cheese. Traditionally, Yak milk is boiled and lime juice or vinegar is added with a small amount of salt, creating cheese Curds. The cheese curds are then scooped from the boiling pot, wrapped in cheesecloth, and weighed down to eliminate excess moisture. Then the churpi is baked and set out to cure for many hours. During this process, the cheese dries out and congeals. I'm not sure who discovered that these were a tasty treat for dogs, but they are a safe, natural, high-protein alternative to rawhide.
I Have To Try Making These...
Fortunately, yak milk is not essential to making these natural dog chews but can be made with skim milk from your local grocery store. Add some lime juice and salt, and away we go!
Ingredients:
- 4 liters (or one gallon) of skim milk
- 1/2 cup of lime juice (bottled in fine)
- 1 teaspoon of salt
My Process
First, one must boil the milk. Make sure you use the BIGGEST pot you own. I have a Dutch oven-size pot. Was it big enough? Barely. Like just barely. If the milk were to come to a rolling boil and you weren't paying attention, it would boil over with no problem. So, for safety, make sure you use a huge pot. Also, you must stir the milk constantly or it will burn on the bottom, and then you have burned bits in your final product. No one wants that... Stir, stir, stir! By the way, it takes a long time for the milk to boil, so plan on siting for a bit.
Secondly, measure out your lime juice and add the salt to it. Have these pre-measured, because things are about to move quickly!
Third, when the milk just reaches a boil, add the lime juice/salt mixture. Keep stirring! Almost instantly, you'll start seeing curds form. Exciting!
When it seems like you are not going to get any more curds to form, start scooping the curds from the pot carefully into a strainer. The idea is to get as much moisture out of the curds as possible. The less moisture in the curds, the harder the chew is going to be.
Get a plate or cookie sheet and wrap your curds up together as good as possible. You want these curds to become a flat, ideally rectangular, well-formed shape. Next up, the creative part!
Find something heavy. It doesn't matter what it is! It could be a flower pot, your grandma's old sewing machine, or in my case, those dusty weights I never use. Place another plate or something like it (I used an 8x8 baking dish) on top of the cheese. Then, place your weight on top of that. The more weight the better. This is going to rid the cheese of as much moisture as possible and create a harder, longer-lasting dog chew.
Ta-da! You have entered the WAITING GAME! And this is where I will pause until my next post to share my next steps and results.
In Conclusion...
If these dog chews work out, I would love to include them in my shop, so your dog can have the best, natural chew and you don't have to deal with the hassle of making them! This was a messy, and interesting project and I can't wait to share the results with you. The next step is to bake these babies and then let them harden for 24-48 hours. As I said, it's the waiting game with this process!
If these dog chews do pass quality control after testing from Ice the Husky, I will include them in my shop. Please look for them coming soon on my website. Thanks for being a part of Rover Come Over Homebaked Doggie Treats! Find us at rovercomeover.org
