Overview
About Skyr
Milk, cultures and whey
Traditional production uses skimmed milk and a starter taken from an earlier batch. Acidification causes the milk proteins to coagulate, and draining removes whey to leave a concentrated curd. Methods have varied between households and periods, so early skyr should not be assumed identical to a modern supermarket product. Cow's milk became dominant during the twentieth century, while earlier farming also used sheep's and goats' milk. The separated whey had another important role: preserving foods in the sour storage traditions of Icelandic farm kitchens.
From farm kitchens to dairies
Industrial production replaced much household skyr-making and introduced faster methods of separating the curd, including centrifugation and filtration. Plain and flavoured products now coexist with small-scale traditional production. Slow Food established a Traditional Icelandic Skyr Presidium to support the older method and its producers. That distinction concerns production knowledge and cultural continuity, while the broader name skyr covers products whose cultures, processing methods and added ingredients can differ.
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