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Fermented milk from Abbasid Iraq and Persia

Kamakh rijal (medieval sun-ripened milk relish)كامخ رجل

Kamakh rijal is a salted milk relish from the 10th-century Arabic Book of Dishes. Sour milk, fresh milk and salt are put in a dried gourd shell in the hot sun in June, fresh milk is stirred in each morning until August, and the covered gourd ripens until October into a pungent spread. The steps here follow a translated recipe quoted by a modern recreator; no study has examined it.

A short entry: the sources we found record only what is said here about Kamakh rijal itself.

Short entryFermented milk

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceThe amounts are those of the medieval recipe in ratls, as quoted in translation by Pass the Flamingo. Perry's modern version uses 1 cup yogurt, 5 cups milk and 3 tablespoons kosher salt.
Sour milk5 ratls[passtheflamingo]
Fresh milk10 ratlsThen 3 ratls more each morning[passtheflamingo]
Fine-ground salt1 1/2 ratls[passtheflamingo]
A large dry gourd (pumpkin) shell[passtheflamingo]
Startersour milk in the recipe (yogurt in Perry's modern version)
Start
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What changes: Sour milk, fresh milk and salt are stirred together in a dried gourd shell

Step 1 of 3
Mix sour milk, fresh milk and salt in the gourd
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented

Begun in June, at the start of midsummer. Output: salted milk.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

Not documented for this step.

Method

Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source

At a glance

Kamakh rijal is a salted milk relish from the 10th-century Arabic Book of Dishes. Sour milk, fresh milk and salt are put in a dried gourd shell in the hot sun in June, fresh milk is stirred in each morning until August, and the covered gourd ripens until October into a pungent spread. The steps here follow a translated recipe quoted by a modern recreator; no study has examined it.

What makes this one different

Kamakh rijal is a milk relish ripened for months in the summer sun with heavy salt, unlike the medieval barley-based kamakh condiments.

Related ferments

Variants

  • Kamakh ahmarA medieval condiment of rotted barley with milk and salt, tested by Charles Perry.

Safety

The medieval recipe keeps milk warm in the sun for months, adds fresh milk each morning and has no heating step. A modern blogger who made it credits the salt and the yogurt's bacteria with keeping off bad microbes, but no study we read tests the method. Raw milk can carry germs such as Campylobacter, E. coli, Listeria and Salmonella (CDC). Do not copy this at home, with raw or pasteurised milk.

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

The recipe is in the 10th-century Kitab al-Tabikh (Book of Dishes), the oldest known Arabic cookbook. Charles Perry revived it in modern times; one recreator found it edible after six weeks and finished after about 15 weeks.

  1. [passtheflamingo] Pass the Flamingo blog, Kamakh rijal (countertop cheese), 2017 (quotes the Book of Dishes recipe and Charles Perry's method)web
  2. [perry-ppc] Perry C. 1999, More rotted barley, Petits Propos Culinaires 61:42–43 (on kamakh ahmar; abstract page only)paper
  3. [aramco2006] Perry C. 2006, Cooking with the Caliphs, Saudi Aramco World 57(4) (kamakh condiments)web
  4. [cdc-raw-milk] US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Raw milkgov