Traditional yoghurt recipe reveals ants’ fermentation power

An age-old yoghurt recipe has united microbiologists, ecologists, anthropologists, food scientists and chefs in a project to uncover why ants make surprisingly good milk fermenters.

The interdisciplinary team duplicated a yoghurt recipe, once common across the Balkans and Türkiye, and discovered that ants produce formic acid, which kickstarts milk coagulation. Their mouths also carry lactic and acetic acid-producing bacteria that sour the yoghurt. On top of that, the ants contribute proteases – enzymes that give the yoghurt what the researchers call ‘a pleasing mouthfeel’.

The project began about four years ago, when several parallel initiatives merged. Biologist and ecologist Robert Dunn, now senior vice provost for interdisciplinary programmes at North Carolina State University in the US, helped bring them together.