Skip to main content
Support

Browse by category

All categories
Home

Fermented milk from Botswana

Madilamadila

Madila is Botswana's thick, drained sour milk. Strained raw cow milk sours on its own for about a day, then hangs in a cotton sack (lekuka) so the whey drips out. In the study's lab version fresh milk is then added and soured again. The result is a thick sour cream eaten with porridge.

Fully documentedFermented milk2 days – 3 days

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceOne cattle-post batch as described in the study introduction, about 20 L of milk.
Raw cow milkAbout 20 L (a bucket from about six cows)Strained through a clean white cloth[ohenhen2013]
Fresh milk for topping upAdded after the whey drains in the study's lab version, at 4 parts fresh milk to 1 part fermented milk[ohenhen2013]
Fruit such as orange, mango or marulaOptional flavouring after fermentation[ohenhen2013]
Starterspontaneous

Total time across the recorded steps: 2 days – 3 days

Start
Drag the bar or press Play
shapes, not to countLactic acid bacteria30 °CMilk proteinGel (curd)

What changes: Strained raw milk sours on its own in a covered pail

Step 1 of 4
Strain the milk and leave it to sour
Time
24 h – 2 days
Reported
Temperature
30 °C
Reported
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactic acid bacteria

Another account, a dissertation citing Kebede (2005), has 1 L of raw milk in each 5 L bucket, covered with linen and left about 24 h at ambient temperature (37 °C). Output: soured milk.

Flavour
sour
Texture
curdles
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

lactic acid bacteria from the milk sour it

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

Madila is Botswana's thick, drained sour milk. Strained raw cow milk sours on its own for about a day, then hangs in a cotton sack (lekuka) so the whey drips out. In the study's lab version fresh milk is then added and soured again. The result is a thick sour cream eaten with porridge. Made in 4 steps over 2 days – 3 days. The longest step, strain the milk and leave it to sour, takes 24 h – 2 days (Ohenhen R 2013) and runs at 30 °C (Ohenhen R 2013). Lactobacillus acidophilus, L. delbrueckii, Lactiplantibacillus plantarum, Lactococcus lactis, Limosilactobacillus fermentum and Levilactobacillus brevis does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step24 h – 2 daysReported[ohenhen2013]Strain the milk and leave it to sour
Temperature30 °CReported[ohenhen2013]Strain the milk and leave it to sour

What makes this one different

Madila is drained in a hanging cotton sack, while FAO notes that in Botswana the whey is removed all at once at the end, not daily as in Malawi or Ethiopia.

Related ferments

Variants

  • Mafi (Lesotho)Same concentrated, drained type, listed by FAO.
  • Fruit madilaFlavoured with orange, mango or marula after fermentation.

Safety

Raw-milk madila carried E. coli, B. cereus and S. aureus during fermentation, and all three were still found on the third day. The authors say the counts of these non-lactic bacteria fell as the lactic acid bacteria grew, but their Table 1 lists the non-lactic counts rising from about 10^7 to 10^9 per mL, so the paper's text and table disagree (Ohenhen 2013). They suggest poor hygiene at milking as a likely cause.

Hazards the sources name: Escherichia coli, Bacillus cereus and Staphylococcus aureus (isolated on all three days of fermentation).

History and sources

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

FAO (1990) lists madila (Botswana) with the partly drained sour milks of South Eastern Africa, and says concentrated fermented milks might be the ancestor of cheeses.

  1. [ohenhen2013] Ohenhen R., Imarenezor E.P.K., Kihuha A.N. 2013, Microbiome of madila, a southern-african fermented milk product, International Journal of Basic and Applied Sciences 2(2)paper
  2. [fao-tmp] FAO 1990, The technology of traditional milk products in developing countries, Animal Production and Health Paper 85, section II "Acidified milks", group 1.4 (concentrated, partly drained fermented milks)gov
  3. [coetzer2012] Coetzer S.M. 2012, Microbial interactions associated with indigenous fermented milk, MSc dissertation, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein (literature review, section 1.2.1 Botswana, citing Kebede 2005)other