Adjective
Pronunciation: kay-see’-sho
Very sour with bitterness or astringency. Salty with a hint of bitterness. A positive term.

The English language does not have the concept of keisiicho. Its primary use is to describe a super-sour astringent (keirapirap) and slightly bitter (kodua) taste that occurs during the final souring stage (kule naisicho), just before the milk goes bad (kule torok) and becomes keisamis or kong’u. 

At this point, the milk is beginning to separate into ing’anayoi (curds) and taar (whey). This highly fermented milk creates the feeling in your mouth you get while eating orange peels. Your tongue feels funny and a little dry. Because of that strong sourness, you either spit it out or you swallow it immediately, because if you leave it in your mouth it gets unpleasantly strong. You may even feel the sensation in your ears.

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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