Cheeses of Green Bazar, Almaty
Almaty's old covered market, where Kazakh sellers offer kurt, the hard dried balls of sour cheese, beside kumis and shubat.
Made, aged and sold here
Best time: May to June and September to October.
The Green Bazar has been Almaty's main market since the nineteenth century. Under its big roof, sellers from the steppe and the mountain valleys bring dairy foods that have kept Kazakh herders going for centuries. The most famous is kurt, small balls of salted, dried sour curd, as hard as stone and eaten as a snack or crumbled into soup.
Kurt and the dairy rows
Kurt is made by straining soured milk, salting the curd, rolling it into balls or pressing it into shapes, and drying it in the sun and wind. It keeps for months, which suited nomadic life. Sellers at the Green Bazar offer white, smoked and spiced kurt, as well as irimshik, a sweet dried cottage cheese, and kumis, fermented mare's milk.
The market and the city
The bazar is on the corner of Zhibek Zholy and Zenkov streets, close to Panfilov Park and the wooden Ascension Cathedral. Inside are halls for meat, dried fruit, nuts, honey and dairy. Almaty sits at the foot of the Trans-Ili Alatau, and summer pastures in the mountains above the city still hold herding families.
A trail idea for Green Bazar, Almaty
- Green Bazar dairy hall Taste kurt, irimshik and kumis from the market sellers.
- Panfilov Park The park and wooden cathedral a short walk away.
- Medeu valley The mountain valley above the city, with summer pastures beyond.
- A Kazakh restaurant Try beshbarmak, then kurt with tea.
Written by the EveryCheese desk with AI assistance. Background: "Green Bazar" on Wikipedia. Opening hours, markets, caves and tours change; check locally before travelling. If something is wrong, tell us.
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