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Cheese from Morocco

Jben

Jben is a soft white Moroccan cheese made from raw cow, goat or mixed milk that sours on its own, with no added starter or rennet in the samples studied. Lactococcus lactis is its main bacterium and the finished cheese is very acid, at pH 3.96–4.18. Made the old way it took 1 to 10 days.

Fully documentedCheese36 h – 11 daysFamily: Fresh lactic (acid-set) cheese family

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedTraditional jben has no fixed recipe or amounts in the sources used here. The older method took 1 to 10 days from natural milk with no additives.
Raw cow or goat milkCow, goat or mixed milk; raw in the Moroccan samples sequenced[azzouz2024][indio2024]
No starter and no rennetIn the sequenced samples the fermentation and coagulation were spontaneous[indio2024]
Starternone added; spontaneous fermentation in the Moroccan samples sequenced

Total time across the recorded steps: 36 h – 11 days

Start
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What changes: Starting material: raw cow or goat milk

Step 1 of 4
Collect the raw milk
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactococcus lactis
Lactic acid bacteria
Lactobacillus plantarum
L. mesenteroides

Output: raw cow or goat milk.

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

Jben is a soft white Moroccan cheese made from raw cow, goat or mixed milk that sours on its own, with no added starter or rennet in the samples studied. Lactococcus lactis is its main bacterium and the finished cheese is very acid, at pH 3.96–4.18. Made the old way it took 1 to 10 days. Made in 4 steps over 36 h – 11 days. The longest step, let the milk sour and set by itself, takes 24 h – 10 days (Faddane K 2022). Lactococcus lactis, the predominant species by high-throughput sequencing and Lactic acid bacteria at about 8.80 log CFU/g in cow, goat and mixed jben do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step24 h – 10 daysReported[faddane2022]Let the milk sour and set by itself
AciditypH 4–4.2Measured[azzouz2024]Finished soft white cheese

What makes this one different

A raw-milk cheese that ferments spontaneously, with no starter or rennet in the samples studied, and it ends very acid at about pH 4. The sources give no fixed recipe.

Composition
In a 2024 study goat jben had more fat (49.23 g/100 g as reported), ash (1.91 g/100 g) and dry matter (36.39 g/100 g) than cow jben; pH was 3.96 (cow), 4.16 (goat) and 4.18 (mixed)
Milk
Cow, goat or mixed milk; in the 2024 study fatty-acid profiles showed cow or mixed jben sold as goat jben

Related ferments

Variants

  • Quick heated jbenIn Sidi Kacem province most women now make it in under 12 hours. They simmer the milk and add buttermilk, vinegar, herbs and spices, or heat whole milk and add artichoke chokes.

Safety

Jben made the slow way, from raw milk, has no heat step. The quick version heats the milk, and the 2022 survey authors say more research is needed to show whether it gives Brucella-free cheese. Jben's pH is low, but a 2024 study found high counts of total and faecal coliforms, yeasts and moulds in jben, and a pilot sequencing study of three samples found reads of Klebsiella, E. coli, Citrobacter and Salmonella enterica. A survey of raw milk, lben and jben in northern Morocco found staphylococci including S. aureus, and its authors urge inspection of production and storage. Raw-milk jben has also been reported as an important risk factor for brucellosis, including in Morocco. A 2022 survey in Sidi Kacem found no link with jben, but it found brucellosis antibodies in 33 % of 1,283 people and strong links to raw milk and other raw dairy foods, so that result does not clear raw-milk jben.

Hazards the sources name: Total and faecal coliforms at high counts; reads of Klebsiella, Escherichia (E. coli), Citrobacter and Salmonella enterica in the sequenced samples; Staphylococcus aureus and other staphylococci found in a survey of raw milk, lben and jben in northern Morocco; Brucella, with unpasteurised jben reported in some countries, including Morocco, as an important risk factor for brucellosis; a 2022 survey in Sidi Kacem found no such link.

History and sources

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

In the past jben took 1 to 10 days to make from natural milk with no additives. A 2022 survey in Sidi Kacem province found that most women now prefer a faster process of under 12 hours, simmering the milk and adding buttermilk, vinegar, herbs and spices, or heating whole milk and adding artichoke chokes. The survey authors suggest this change may be why they found no link between jben and brucellosis, though they note that jben from unpasteurised milk has been reported as an important risk factor elsewhere, including in Morocco.

  1. [azzouz2024] Azzouz S., Ahadaf S., Zantar S., El Galiou O., Arakrak A., Bakkali M., Laglaoui A. 2024, Analysis of the bacterial diversity in Moroccan Jben cheese using TTGE, DGGE, and 16S rRNA sequencing, World Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology 40(5):157 (abstract)paper
  2. [indio2024] Indio V., Gonzales-Barron U., Oliveri C., Lucchi A., Valero A., Achemchem F., Manfreda G., Savini F., Serraino A., De Cesare A. 2024, Comparative analysis of the microbiome composition of artisanal cheeses produced in the Mediterranean area, Italian Journal of Food Safety 13(4):12818paper
  3. [ouadghiri2005] Ouadghiri M., Amar M., Vancanneyt M., Swings J. 2005, Biodiversity of lactic acid bacteria in Moroccan soft white cheese (Jben), FEMS Microbiology Letters 251(2):267–271 (abstract)paper
  4. [bendahou2008] Bendahou A., Lebbadi M., Ennanei L., Essadqui F.Z., Abid M. 2008, Characterization of Staphylococcus species isolated from raw milk and milk products (lben and jben) in North Morocco, Journal of Infection in Developing Countries 2(3):218–225 (abstract)paper
  5. [faddane2022] Faddane K., Moumni H., Cherkaoui I., Lakranbi M., Hamdi S., Ezzikouri S., Saile R., Azhari M.E. 2022, Seroprevalence of human brucellosis in Morocco and associated risk factors, Veterinary World 15(9):2224–2233paper