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Trahanas Recipe: Greek Sour Milk and Cracked Wheat for Soup

By Updated 1 min read

Trahanas is Greece’s ancient fermented grain-and-dairy soup pasta — crumbled, sun-dried, and stored for winter. This guide covers sour trahanas with yogurt, sweet trahanas with fresh milk, traditional preparation, regional variations from Crete to Cyprus, and how to make an authentic bowl of trahanas soup.

At a glance

Trahanas is the Greek and Cypriot pantry crumble of fermented milk (sour trahanas) or fresh milk (sweet) and cracked wheat: the milk is fermented, the wheat added, the mixture cooked into a thick paste, then crumbled and dried. A study found a lactic fermentation of about 50 hours and a dried product of pH 4.07–4.75 with 8.6–11.5% moisture. It's simmered into a thick, tangy soup.

  • Greek and Cypriot dried crumble of fermented milk and cracked wheat.
  • Traditionally made in summer from ewe's or goat's milk; cooked, then dried.
  • About 50 hours of lactic fermentation (Lactococcus, Leuconostoc, Lactobacillus).
  • Dried trahanas: pH 4.07–4.75, moisture 8.6–11.5%, protein 10.4–13.6%.
  • Cooked before drying and in the soup, so no live cultures.

Ferment profile

Origin
Greece and Cyprus
Fermentation
Lactic acid
Main microbes
Lactococcus/Streptococcus, Leuconostoc and Lactobacillus species; yeasts in Cypriot trahanas
Live cultures
No (cooked, baked or pasteurized)
Alcohol
None / trace

Trahanas (τραχανάς) is a dried crumble of fermented milk and cracked wheat from Greece and Cyprus, kept in the pantry and simmered into a thick, comforting soup in winter. Sour trahanas is made with fermented milk or yogurt; sweet trahanas with fresh milk. Its close relative is Turkish tarhana, which is usually a finer powder made with vegetables and spices.

How It’s Made

Traditionally trahanas is made in summer from fresh ewe’s or goat’s milk, or a mixture. The milk is fermented, broken (cracked) wheat is added, and the mixture is cooked into a thick paste, which is cooled, cut or crumbled into small pieces and dried in the sun or an oven (Georgala, 2020).

A Greek study followed the fermentation of trahanas. It’s a lactic fermentation lasting about 50 hours, driven by lactococci and streptococci, Leuconostoc, and Lactobacillus species including L. casei, L. bulgaricus and L. acidophilus, which produce its acidity and aroma. The finished, dried trahanas had a pH of 4.07–4.75, 0.6–1.0% acidity, 8.6–11.5% moisture and 10.4–13.6% protein (Lazos et al., 1993). In Cypriot trahanas, lactic acid bacteria were again the main group, followed by yeasts (Georgala, 2020).

Because the paste is cooked before drying and the trahanas is boiled again in the soup, it’s a fermented food for flavour and keeping, not a source of live cultures. Low moisture and acidity are what let it keep in the pantry.

Trahanas Soup

For two bowls, bring about 750 ml of stock or water to the boil, stir in 6–8 tablespoons of trahanas and simmer for 15–20 minutes, stirring, until it breaks down into a thick, tangy porridge-like soup. Finish with crumbled feta or halloumi, olive oil, and sometimes a little tomato or sausage. For other sour grain-and-dairy ferments, see Lebanese kishk and Polish żurek. Romanian borș sours soups with fermented wheat bran instead.

Recipe: Sour Trahanas

Makes
About 700 g dried trahanas
Hands-on
60 min
Fermentation
1–2 days souring the milk, then 2–4 days drying
Temperature
Warm room temperature (22–28°C) to sour; sun or a 50–60°C oven to dry
Difficulty
Moderate

Equipment

  • Large heavy pot
  • Wooden spoon
  • Trays lined with cloth or baking paper
  • Airtight jar or cloth bag for storage

Ingredients

  • 1 litre pasteurized whole milk (sheep's or goat's milk if you can get it)
  • 200 g plain live yogurt (as a starter)
  • 500 g cracked wheat (coarse bulgur or trahanas wheat)
  • 10 g salt

Method

  1. Warm the milk to about 40°C, stir in the yogurt, cover and leave somewhere warm for 1–2 days, until it's thick and clearly sour.
  2. Pour the soured milk into the pot, stir in the cracked wheat and salt, and cook over low heat, stirring constantly, for 20–30 minutes until it's a very thick paste that pulls away from the pot.
  3. Spread it on the lined trays about 1 cm thick and leave until cool and firm, then break it into small pieces.
  4. Dry the pieces in strong sun for 2–4 days, turning and crumbling them further as they dry, or in an oven at 50–60°C with the door ajar.
  5. Store only when completely hard and dry right through, in an airtight jar or cloth bag in a cool, dry place.
  6. Discard any trahanas that softens, smells musty or shows mould.

Frequently asked questions

What is trahanas?

A Greek and Cypriot dried crumble of fermented (or fresh) milk and cracked wheat, simmered into a thick soup.

Is trahanas the same as tarhana?

They're close relatives. Turkish tarhana is usually a powder with vegetables and spices; Greek trahanas is a coarser crumble of milk and wheat.

What's the difference between sour and sweet trahanas?

Sour trahanas is made with fermented milk or yogurt and tastes tangy; sweet trahanas is made with fresh milk and is milder.

Does trahanas have probiotics?

No live cultures to speak of: the paste is cooked before drying, and trahanas is boiled again in the soup.

How do you cook trahanas?

Simmer it in stock or water for 15–20 minutes, stirring, until it breaks down into a thick soup; finish with feta and olive oil.

Sources

  1. Lazos ES, Aggelousis G, Bratakos M (1993). The fermentation of trahanas: a milk-wheat flour combination. Plant Foods Hum Nutr 44(1):45–62. Link
  2. Georgala A (2020). The microbiology of Greek/Cyprus trahanas and of Turkish tarhana: a review of some literature data. Food Sci Appl Biotechnol 3(2). Link
  3. CDC. Raw milk. Link
#Eastern Europe and the Balkans
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