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Fermentation Atlas

Cheese from Ethiopia, Eritrea

Ayib (Ethiopian cottage cheese)አይብ

soft crumbly fresh cheese eaten with spiced kitfo and berbere dishes. Made in 4 steps over 25 h – 3 days. The longest step, spontaneously ferment raw milk to ergo in smoked clay pot, takes 24 h – 3 days. Salt is 0 % (Yilma Z 2007). Lactococcus and Lactobacillus do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step24 h – 3 daysTypicalSpontaneously ferment raw milk to ergo in smoked clay pot
Temperature40–70 °CMeasured[yilma-loiseau2007][asefa2025][bekele2022]Heat arera slowly until curd forms
Salt0 %Reported[yilma-loiseau2007][asefa2025][bekele2022]Cool and drain
AciditypH 4–4.5TypicalSpontaneously ferment raw milk to ergo in smoked clay pot
DocumentedCheese25 h – 3 daysMore other cheesesMore from Ethiopia

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedWhat goes in. No source gives amounts for this ferment.
raw cow milk → ergo → arera (defatted sour buttermilk)
Starter: spontaneous (ergo ferments naturally without added culture); smoked clay pot (Olea/Acacia smoke) flora

Total time across the recorded steps: 25 h – 3 days

Start
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Milk proteinGel (curd)pH 4–4.5shapes, not to countLactic acid bacteria

What changes: Raw milk sours into ergo in a clay pot smoked with woody plants

Step 1 of 4
Spontaneously ferment raw milk to ergo in smoked clay pot
Time
24 h – 3 days
Typical
Temperature
ambient
Unconfirmed
Salt
None given
Acidity
pH 4–4.5
Typical
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactic acid bacteria

Output: ergo.

Flavour
sour, smoky
Texture
coagulated
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

LAB acidify

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

Variants

  • Starter-culture ayibpasteurised milk + probiotic starter at 37 °C for 8 h, buttermilk heated to 50–60 °C for 40–50 min (Asefa et al. 2025)
  • Spiced / salted ayib, metata ayibayib mixed with spices and butter and stored (fermented further, reported)

Safety

spoils in 2–3 days at ambient temperature (Asefa et al. 2025); hygiene concerns in market samples.

History and sources

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

Traditional highland dairy.

  1. [yilma-loiseau2007] Yilma Z., Loiseau G., Faye B., Livestock Research for Rural Development 19(7) 2007, lrrd.org/lrrd19/7/yilm19088.htmpaper
  2. [asefa2025] Asefa et al., One Health Outlook 2025, doi:10.1186/s42522-025-00138-8paper
  3. [bekele2022] Bekele et al., East African Journal of Veterinary and Animal Sciences 2022paper