Noun Pronunciation: kah-mah-nang True buttermilk; uncultured buttermilk. Kamanang’ is the whey that is produced after churning cream or, in this case, the curds.
The Samburu consume kamanang’ fresh, fermented, or lightly boiled. If consumed fresh, kamanang’ is in the same class as kule nairewa. Depending on how the lmala has been prepared, the fresh milk may or may not have picked up flavor from the burning sticks used to sterilize the container. When fermented, kamanang’ can be kept in the lmala for roughly one week, until the white milk comes [What is “white milk”? Leave your answer in the Comments below].
I am an author who writes about traditional food and foodways. My book, The Magic of Fire (2002) is about hearth cooking. I have written an introductory history of bread, Bread, a global history (2011) and am currently writing a history of bread for the University of California Press. Other areas of interest include wild mushrooms, and specifically the treatment of Amanita muscaria in the historic record. I also write about Early Modern British Gardens, and for a more general audience, I write for Mother Earth News on bread, gardening, and more. I have an ongoing research project into the smoke-cured fermented milk of the Kenyan Samburu tribe. I am a co-director of the Samburu Lowlands Research Station, Lengusaka. I am the founding editor (1972) of Stone Soup, the magazine of writing and art by young people.
View all posts by William Rubel
Samburu Research 