Noun
Pronunciation: koo’-lay sah-roy’ 
Mixture of kule naoto (perfectly fermented milk) and cow blood in a 1:1 ratio. See kule njuloti for a discussion of how the cow blood is collected.

As with njuloti, which is made with fresh milk, kule saroi is both a food and a medicine. As medicine, it is fed to boys after circumcision for a period of seven days. It is also consumed, along with kule njuloti, by anyone who has been injured, especially resulting in blood loss, as part of the healing process. As a food, however, this is milk is only consumed by boys after circumcision, but not anyone else.

This milk is also given to one’s friends in the same “age set” who have been recently circumcised who come to visit when you are recovering. An age set is a friend group of five or six men who are close in age. When they come to visit, each friend is handed a cup. The murran (warrior) pours out the milk from the lmala into its lkupuri (a lmala cap which also serves as a cup), takes a sip, says “Saroi,” and then hands the cup to his friend, who also drinks. From then on, they refer to each other as “Saroi saroi.” They use this form of address with each other for the rest of their lives.

“Kule saroi helps the boys recover the blood from when they are circumcised.” — Longhiro Lekudere in conversation with William Rubel, Jan. 24, 2025.

Return to the Stages of Milk Fermentation.

This is the draft manuscript of the Samburu Milk Project, © 2024 William Rubel.

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Published by William Rubel

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.

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