The fermented bulgur-and-yogurt product used to make a traditional Lebanese soup is kishk.
Lebanese kishk is a preserved cereal-and-dairy product made by fermenting burghul, or cracked wheat, with milk and laban, the local term for yogurt. After fermentation, the mixture is dried and rubbed into a powder. This shelf-stable ingredient can be reconstituted in soups and sauces, giving them a pronounced sour, creamy, and savory flavor.
Traditional preparation begins in early autumn after the wheat harvest. In Lebanese villages, the mixture may ferment in clay jars for several weeks and be kneaded regularly before being spread out to dry, often on rooftops. The dried powder was especially valuable as a winter food in rural communities.
Kishk soup may include onions, garlic, herbs, or meat, including lamb preserved as awarma. Kishk is not the same as freekeh, which is roasted green wheat, nor tahini or labneh. The name also overlaps with related fermented or dried dairy foods across the Middle East, so recipes and textures vary by region.