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Fermented milk from Kenya

Iria ri matii (Meru charcoal-gourd sour milk)iria ri matii

Iria ri matii is the Meru sour milk of Kenya, made in a gourd whose inside is coated with charcoal from Olea europaea ssp. africana. Mureithi and den Biggelaar call the wood-smoke flavour and aroma an essential characteristic of the product.

A short entry: the sources we found record only what is said here about Iria ri matii itself. Its own sources do not record how it is made, so the steps and scenes below are those of Mursik, the closest documented fermented milk ferment, shown as a guide to the method, not as a record of Iria ri matii.

Short entryFermented milk

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedHousehold practice; no source gives amounts.
Cow milkUsually boiled before souring in Kenya[fao-tmp-ii]
Charcoal from Olea europaea ssp. africanaCoats the inside of the gourd[mureithi2000]
StarterFAO describes the sour milks of this group as spontaneous, with no starter, souring from the milk's own flora or bacteria on the vessel

Total time across the steps of Mursik: 3 days

Start
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What changes: The milk gourd is cleaned out and left to dry

Step 1 of 5 · steps of Mursik
Clean and dry the gourd
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactobacilli
Yeasts

Output: clean, dry gourd.

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

Iria ri matii is the Meru sour milk of Kenya, made in a gourd whose inside is coated with charcoal from Olea europaea ssp. africana. Mureithi and den Biggelaar call the wood-smoke flavour and aroma an essential characteristic of the product.

What makes this one different

What marks iria ri matii is the gourd coated inside with Olea europaea ssp. africana charcoal, whose wood-smoke aroma Mureithi and den Biggelaar call essential to the product.

FAO group value, not specific to this milk
FAO lists "iria imata" (taken here to be the same milk, from the similar spelling) in a group of African acidified milks. For the group it gives usually 24–48 h in a covered container, and room temperature that varies from 22 °C in Kenya to 35 °C in northern Benin (FAO 1990).

Related ferments

Safety

Boiling the milk first removes most raw-milk risks; charcoal and smoke reduce moulds but do not replace boiling.

History and sources

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

  1. [mureithi2000] Mureithi W., den Biggelaar C. 2000, Management of trees used in mursik (fermented milk) production in Trans-Nzoia District, Kenya, Journal of Ethnobiology 20(1):75–91paper
  2. [fao-tmp-ii] FAO 1990, The technology of traditional milk products in developing countries, section II "Acidified milks", group 1.1gov