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Meat from Sudan

Shermout (boundary: drying)شرموط

Shermout is Sudan's dried beef, made by drying strips of meat in the sun. It is a drying cure rather than a true ferment. In a 1989 study, staphylococci and Enterobacteriaceae led the flora of the dried meat at first, and micrococci and bacilli later in storage.

A short entry: the sources we found record only what is said here about Shermout itself. Its own sources do not record how it is made, so the steps and scenes below are those of Pastırma (Kayseri pastırması, Erzurum pastırması), the closest documented meat ferment, shown as a guide to the method, not as a record of Shermout.

Short entryMeat

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedWhat goes in. No source gives amounts for this ferment.
beef strips

Total time across the steps of Pastırma (Kayseri pastırması, Erzurum pastırması): 14 days – 21 days

Start
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What changes: Slits cut at 45° are packed full of nitrite curing salt

Step 1 of 9 · steps of Pastırma (Kayseri pastırması, Erzurum pastırması)
Cut slits at 45° (şaklama) and fill with curing salt
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented

Nitrite salt fixes colour and flavour and holds back pathogens, above all Clostridium botulinum, and rancidity. Output: slit beef packed with curing salt.

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

Shermout is Sudan's dried beef, made by drying strips of meat in the sun. It is a drying cure rather than a true ferment. In a 1989 study, staphylococci and Enterobacteriaceae led the flora of the dried meat at first, and micrococci and bacilli later in storage.

What makes this one different

Shermout is dried whole strips with no salting or souring step recorded, so it sits at the edge of the atlas as a drying cure. A pre-cooked, ground version developed in 1989 kept for at least 4 months without refrigeration.

Safety

A 1989 study counted total bacteria, spores, yeasts and moulds and Staphylococcus aureus and tested for Clostridium perfringens; it judged the traditionally made product less microbiologically acceptable than a pre-cooked, ground version made in the laboratory.

History and sources

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

  1. [gailani1989] Gailani M.B., Fung D.Y.C. 1989, Microbiology and water activity relationship in the processing and storage of Sudanese dry meat (sharmoot), Journal of Food Protection 52(1):13-20 (abstract)paper
  2. [s2] African Arguments 2026, Can Sudan's dried meat delicacy escape the suitcase and conquer new markets?web