Ymer substitute

Best substitute

Plain whole-milk yogurt

Use the same amount thinned with 1-2 tablespoons milk per cup if needed as the ymer you are replacing

Best for breakfast bowls with ymerdrys

Close match

Ordinary unsweetened set yogurt, loosened slightly so it pours like ymer instead of standing up like a scoop of Greek yogurt.

Other ymer substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

2Skyr or quark thinned with milk
Close match
Use ¾ cup skyr or quark plus ¼ cup milk for every cup of ymer
Strained fresh dairy that matches ymer's unusual selling point, which is high protein at moderate fat.
What changes
Best for
breakfast bowls, high-protein swaps, dips and spreads, cheesecake and dessert fillings
Nutritionally this is the nearest match, since ymer is essentially milk with some whey removed and both skyr and quark are made the same way. Straight from the tub they are much too stiff, so thin them until a spoonful sags. Skyr is noticeably more acidic than ymer and quark is milder and slightly grainy, so quark plus a splash of milk lands closest of all. Whisk properly or you get lumps that will not disappear.
3Buttermilk
Different texture
Use the same amount by volume
Cultured pourable milk with the same lactic tang as ymer but nowhere near the body.
What changes
Best for
pancakes and waffles, cakes and muffins, soda bread, salad dressings, cold soups
For anything baked this is a perfect swap, because the only jobs ymer is doing in a batter are supplying acid to react with baking soda and supplying liquid, and buttermilk does both identically. Where it fails is the breakfast bowl: buttermilk is thin enough to drink, so it will not hold a topping and will taste sharper and saltier than ymer. If you need it thicker for a cold dish, whisk in a tablespoon of sour cream per cup.
4Kefir
Taste and texture differ
Use the same amount or 1 cup kefir plus 2 tablespoons yogurt for more body
Fermented milk drink cultured with both bacteria and yeasts, so it has a faint fizz and a yeasty edge ymer does not.
What changes
Best for
drinking and smoothies, baking, marinades, pouring over cereal
Sourer and livelier than ymer, with a champagne-like prickle and a slight bready aroma. Fine in batters, good over muesli, and honestly quite pleasant in a bowl, but it reads as a different product rather than a stand-in. If the recipe is a dessert or a mild sauce, cut the kefir with plain yogurt so the funk does not dominate.
5Creme fraiche or sour cream loosened with milk
Different taste
Use ½ cup creme fraiche plus ½ cup milk for every cup of ymer
A rich, low-acid cultured cream diluted back down to something ymer-like in thickness.
What changes
Best for
cold sauces, desserts and fruit compotes, creamy soups finished off the heat
Gets the smooth mouthfeel right but overshoots badly on fat, so the result tastes distinctly richer and less refreshing than ymer, which is only around three or four percent fat. The tang is milder too. Use it when ymer is playing a sauce role and you want luxury; do not use it for a breakfast bowl you were eating because it felt light.
6Milk soured with lemon juice or vinegar
Taste and texture differ
1 cup whole milk plus 1 tablespoon lemon juice or white vinegar, rested 10 minutes
The emergency version, which supplies acid and nothing else.
What changes
Best for
pancakes, muffins and quick breads, any batter leavened with baking soda
This is a baking-only fix and it is a good one, because the acid does the chemistry ymer was there for. It will not thicken meaningfully and it tastes flatly sour rather than cultured, so it is useless for eating. There is no fermented complexity here at all, and in a plain cake nobody will notice; in a cheesecake or a cold sauce they will.

What is Ymer?

Ymer is Ymer is a Danish soured milk made by culturing whole milk with mild mesophilic lactic bacteria and then draining off part of the whey, which leaves it thicker and higher in protein than buttermilk but looser and far less sour than Greek yogurt.

Cooking tips

Judge the swap by how it moves, not by the label. Ymer should slide slowly off a tilted spoon in one soft mass. If your substitute holds a stiff peak, thin it; if it runs like milk, stir in a spoonful of sour cream or yogurt.
If you are making the classic ymer med ymerdrys, the topping does most of the talking: coarse rye or dark bread crumbs toasted with brown sugar. Any mild thick cultured dairy underneath it will pass, so pick on texture rather than chasing the exact flavour.
Ymer is only about three to four percent fat, so reaching for full-fat Greek yogurt or creme fraiche makes the dish heavier than intended. Whole-milk yogurt or thinned quark keeps the lightness.
Do not boil any of these substitutes. Ymer, yogurt, quark and skyr all curdle and go grainy over direct heat, so stir them into a hot soup or sauce off the burner and serve straight away.
In yeasted Danish baking, remember ymer is acidic. If you swap in plain sweet milk you lose that acidity, and any baking soda in the recipe will have nothing to react with, so the crumb comes out tighter and slightly soapy tasting.

Frequently asked questions

Is ymer the same as yogurt?

Not quite, though yogurt is the right substitute. Both are fermented milk, but yogurt is cultured warm with thermophilic bacteria and ends up sharper, while ymer is cultured at room temperature with mesophilic lactic bacteria and then partly drained of whey, which makes it milder, softer and higher in protein than the milk it started from. Think of it as sitting between buttermilk and Greek yogurt.

What is the difference between ymer and tykmaelk?

They are cultured the same way and taste very similar, but tykmaelk keeps all its whey while ymer has some drained off. That makes ymer thicker and higher in protein, and tykmaelk looser and a little more delicate. If a Danish recipe calls for either one, the same substitutes work for both.

Can I just leave ymer out?

Not really. In a breakfast dish it is the entire dish. In baking it is both the liquid and the acid, so leaving it out gives you dry batter with no lift. The one thing you can safely skip is the acidity, provided you also swap any baking soda in the recipe for an equal amount of baking powder, which brings its own acid along.

Where can I buy ymer outside Denmark?

Almost nowhere, which is why this question gets asked. Scandinavian import shops occasionally stock it and Danish brands sell it under names like Ymer and Cultura, but it is highly perishable and rarely shipped. Plain whole-milk yogurt, or quark thinned with milk, is the practical answer.

Can I make something like ymer at home?

You can get close. Culture pasteurised whole milk with a mesophilic starter or a few tablespoons of live cultured buttermilk, leave it at cool room temperature until set, then drain it in a cloth-lined sieve for an hour or two to shed some whey. Use pasteurised milk and clean equipment, keep it refrigerated once set, and throw it out if it smells yeasty, bitter or off rather than pleasantly sour.

Related substitutes

More dairy substitutes

Ymer substitute

Other ymer substitutes

2Skyr or quark thinned with milk

3Buttermilk

4Kefir

5Creme fraiche or sour cream loosened with milk

6Milk soured with lemon juice or vinegar