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Fermented milk from Southern Albania, Përmet region

Salcë shakulli (yogurt cream in a hide sack)salcë shakulli

Salcë shakulli is sheep or goat yogurt salted and hung for months in a salt-cured goat or sheep hide. Whey seeps out through the skin and is scraped off while salted milk is added, so the yogurt thickens into a dense, salty cream that is ready by about November. Shepherds of the Përmet mountains make it to keep summer yogurt for winter.

A short entry: the sources we found record only what is said here about Salcë shakulli itself.

DocumentedFermented milk8.3 months – 9.4 months

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceOne sack of about 25–30 L of yogurt in the Slow Food description; the sources give no salt amount.
YogurtAbout 25–30 LFilled into one sack[fondazioneslowfood]
SaltAdded inside and rubbed on the outside of the sack daily; no amount given[fondazioneslowfood]
Milk, saltedAdded over several days and once more before sealing[fondazioneslowfood]
Goat or sheep hide1From an animal slaughtered in December or January[fondazioneslowfood]
Starteryogurt fills the sack; the salted milk added to it ferments and turns to yogurt inside (Slow Food)

Total time across the recorded steps: 8.3 months – 9.4 months

Start
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Close-up: water moving into a piece

What changes: A goat or sheep hide is salt-cured for months into a sack

Step 1 of 4
Make the shakull (hide sack)
Time
6 months
Reported
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented

Output: shakull.

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

Salcë shakulli is sheep or goat yogurt salted and hung for months in a salt-cured goat or sheep hide. Whey seeps out through the skin and is scraped off while salted milk is added, so the yogurt thickens into a dense, salty cream that is ready by about November. Shepherds of the Përmet mountains make it to keep summer yogurt for winter. Made in 4 steps over 8.3 months – 9.4 months. The longest step, make the shakull (hide sack), takes 6 months (Slow Food Foundation).

Key numbers
Main step6 monthsReported[fondazioneslowfood]Make the shakull (hide sack)

What makes this one different

Salcë shakulli loses its whey slowly through a salted animal hide over two to three months while salted milk is added, and the thick cream is kept for the winter.

Related ferments

Variants

  • Shëllira e kaçupit (Labëria)A related Labëria product on Albania's intangible heritage register. Strained, boiled, cooled milk with salt goes into a ram or goat skin cured with 2–3 kg of salt; the whey is drained and the outside cleaned daily; it keeps up to 8 months. It starts from boiled milk, not yogurt.
  • Trebeshinë stane sauce (AgroWeb)Shaking the sack ('tundja e shakullit') gives a fresh sauce, served as meze; some is sold to restaurants.

Safety

Wikipedia's infobox lists it as not pasteurised; the other sources do not say whether the milk is heated. Products made from raw milk can expose people to germs such as Campylobacter, E. coli, Listeria, Brucella and Salmonella (CDC).

History and sources

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

Shepherds on the summer pastures of Përmet developed it to keep yogurt for long periods, as part of the transhumance tradition. It is made mostly for home use or for a niche market run by the shepherds themselves. It is listed in Slow Food's Ark of Taste, and a 2020 heritage study proposed a study group to assess whether it and Përmet gliko could be put forward for UNESCO intangible heritage.

  1. [fondazioneslowfood] Slow Food Foundation, Ark of Taste: Salcë shakulli (yogurt cream in a sack)web
  2. [lauria2020] Laurìa A., Flora V., Guza K. 2020, Five Albanian villages, guidelines for a sustainable tourism development through the enhancement of the cultural heritage, Firenze University Press, doi:10.36253/978-88-5518-175-4, pp. 49 and the action plan (food heritage of Përmet)book
  3. [agroweb] AgroWeb 2022, Salcë në shakull nga stanet e Trebeshinës, 11 February 2022web
  4. [al] Regjistri i Trashëgimisë Kulturore Jomateriale (Albanian intangible cultural heritage register), Shëllira e Kaçupit (Kaçupi's brine)web
  5. [wp] Wikipedia, Salcë shakulliwiki
  6. [cdc-raw-milk] US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Raw Milk (31 January 2025)gov