Overview

• A paper in iScience from researchers in Denmark validates a long-reported Balkans and Turkish method that uses live ants to start dairy fermentation.
• In field trials, four whole ants added to warm milk and left in an anthill overnight yielded a thickened, tangy product described as slightly acidic and herbaceous.
• Laboratory analyses found lactic and acetic acid bacteria plus enzymes at work, with ant-derived formic acid helping acidify and coagulate milk and genera identified including Lactobacillus, Bacillus and Fructolactobacillus.
• Only viable ants produced the necessary fermenting community, while frozen or desiccated insects did not reliably transform the milk.
• The team warns that ants can carry parasites and harmful microbes, and partnered with chefs at Copenhagen’s two‑Michelin‑star Alchemist to explore tightly controlled culinary uses rather than home replication.