J
jake
Guest
That doesn't sound very appealing, does it? Smen is Moroccan (or North
African, maybe) fermented butter. It is highly regarded in Morocco,
sometimes buried for years and only smelled rather than used because it
is so precious, like a very special wine.
Recipes weren't easy to find and varied a lot. Some called for
clarifying before fermentation, some wanted it after, others wanted
none. Then there were various spices, and/or herbs, or none at all. Then
there were various amounts of salt, and different methods of storing:
with a muslin cover or with a tight fitting lid.
What I wound up doing:
- no spices to discover wait the purest flavor is like
- preclarification
- 7 ml (almost 1,5 tsp) of salt for 250 g of butter
My clarification was imperfect, I didn't have a fine enough mesh to
strain the melted butter through.( I geuss I could have bought ghee and
tried fermenting that.)
After clarification, I tasted the butter,. more salty then I expect to
like. But then smen is used in small quantities.
it is now sitting in a cool dark room, in a marmalade jar. The pungent
smell should develop over the next couple of weeks. I can't wait, I am
highly intrigued.
PS Sometimes smen is spelled smin. It is NOT samna, as far as I can tell.
African, maybe) fermented butter. It is highly regarded in Morocco,
sometimes buried for years and only smelled rather than used because it
is so precious, like a very special wine.
Recipes weren't easy to find and varied a lot. Some called for
clarifying before fermentation, some wanted it after, others wanted
none. Then there were various spices, and/or herbs, or none at all. Then
there were various amounts of salt, and different methods of storing:
with a muslin cover or with a tight fitting lid.
What I wound up doing:
- no spices to discover wait the purest flavor is like
- preclarification
- 7 ml (almost 1,5 tsp) of salt for 250 g of butter
My clarification was imperfect, I didn't have a fine enough mesh to
strain the melted butter through.( I geuss I could have bought ghee and
tried fermenting that.)
After clarification, I tasted the butter,. more salty then I expect to
like. But then smen is used in small quantities.
it is now sitting in a cool dark room, in a marmalade jar. The pungent
smell should develop over the next couple of weeks. I can't wait, I am
highly intrigued.
PS Sometimes smen is spelled smin. It is NOT samna, as far as I can tell.