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Fermented milk from Tanzania

Samli (Tanzanian ghee from sour-milk butter)samli

Samli is the Tanzanian name for clarified butter. Raw milk sours on its own in a gourd or clay pot, is churned into butter, and the butter is boiled until its water is gone. This is a boundary entry; only the milk souring is a fermentation, and the heat of clarifying kills most microbes in the butter.

Fully documentedFermented milk

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedHousehold process with no fixed amounts. Milk is gathered in a 2–4 litre pot or gourd until there is enough to churn.
Raw cow milkCollected over several days in a 2–4 litre clay pot or bottle gourd[ryoba]
No starterThe milk sours on its own[fao-tmp][ryoba]
No saltButter for samli is normally not salted[ryoba]
Starterspontaneous (milk souring step)
Start
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shapes, not to countLactobacilliMilk sugarLactic acid

What changes: Raw milk sours on its own in a smoked gourd

Step 1 of 4
Sour the milk in a smoked gourd or clay pot
Time
Overnight in the general method; in Tanzania milk is added over a number of days
Reported
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactobacilli

Sour milk keeps only 72 hours at ambient temperature; smoking the vessel extends it. Output: sour milk.

Flavour
sour, smoky
Texture
set curd
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

lactic streptococci and lactobacilli from the raw milk

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

Samli is the Tanzanian name for clarified butter. Raw milk sours on its own in a gourd or clay pot, is churned into butter, and the butter is boiled until its water is gone. This is a boundary entry; only the milk souring is a fermentation, and the heat of clarifying kills most microbes in the butter. Lactic acid streptococci and lactobacilli from the raw milk does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Temperature110–130 °CReported[fao-tmp][ryoba]Boil the butter until the water is gone

What makes this one different

Samli is made from butter churned out of spontaneously soured whole milk, not from cream. Unlike smen it is not aged after clarifying; heat ends the fermentation.

Boundary
A butterfat made from fermented milk

Related ferments

Variants

  • Sainilli (Kenya)The Kenyan name in FAO's list of African clarified butters.

Safety

Soured raw milk that is not boiled carries a danger of tuberculosis or brucellosis (Ryoba and Kurwijila). Only the butter is boiled here. The sour milk, and the buttermilk left after churning, are usually consumed as they are, so that danger stays in them. Heating the milk first kills undesirable organisms. Shelf life depends on the water left in the fat; above 125–130 °C it burns.

Hazards the sources name: Coliforms and putrefactive bacteria (spoilage of the sour milk); Mycobacterium (tuberculosis) and Brucella from raw milk.

History and sources

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

In its section on economic importance, FAO extrapolates from 1985 milk figures, citing Kurwijila (1989), that about 4.22 thousand tonnes of ghee may have been made in Tanzania's traditional livestock sector, from 169 thousand tonnes of traditionally processed milk. This is a modelled estimate built on stated assumptions, not a count.

  1. [fao-tmp] FAO 1990, The technology of traditional milk products in developing countries, Animal Production and Health Paper 85, part III, Butter and milk fat products (clarified butter)gov
  2. [ryoba] Ryoba R. and Kurwijila R.L., Milk processing requirements for satisfying the demand for various dairy products in Tanzania, Sokoine University of Agriculture (FAO-hosted paper), sections on fermented milk, butter and gheepaper
  3. [fao-tmp-econ] FAO 1990, The technology of traditional milk products in developing countries, Animal Production and Health Paper 85, section V 'Economic importance of traditional milk products', 1. Southern and eastern Africa, Table 23gov