Adjective
Pronunciation: kay-ruh’-sha
Thick, when applied to milk; also rich mouthfeel. The opposite of kebebek. 

Keirucha is used to compare the texture of goat, cow, sheep, and camel milk with each other, or to compare the changes in texture, because milk from a given animal becomes more or less fatty depending on the seasonal condition of the forage and time from lactation. Goat milk is the most naturally keirucha, as is dry-season cow milk. Keirucha chai (tea, milk, water, and sugar) contains more milk and is less dilute (1.5:2 milk to water) than the standard recipe (1:2). Some people, especially the young, may request tea made to this ratio.

The term is also used for other thick/thin comparisons. For example, cloth with a rich hand can be termed keirucha, as can a chubby person. 

“Used only for fresh milk, when it is the texture of thick porridge almost at the ugali stage. Also used to refer to very heavy rain with big drops.” — Robin Leparsanti, Longhiro Lekudere in conversation with William Rubel, April 1, 2016. 

Return to Milk Taste and Texture terms.

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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