Adjective
Pronunciation: XXX
Creamy. Cream of the milk; fat.

[Should this be lata ate?]

Descriptive term for milk with a smooth, fatty mouthfeel; the feeling of meat fat. 

This is the fat that rises to the top of the milk when it sits. This mainly applies in the Samburu highlands around Maralal, where the climate is colder, and milk sits longer before it ferments (maybe 4 or 5 days). The milk from the Samburu herds of small Boran-breed cows is relatively less fatty than milk from European cows, and may require days to separate.

Lata is milk in an early stage of development, as the milk is maturing to yogurt. A young kule naoto has the lata mouthfeel. The kule naoto will have a flavor profile from the woods that have been used to clean the lmala. In my experience, this is the most delicious stage, most appreciated stage, of milk fermentation. It can taste sweet, like vanilla ice cream, but with an ineffable hint of smoky flavors and aromas.

“Milk as smooth as when you  are eating liquid fat. Very smooth. It just slips down.” — Robin Leparsanti or Longhiro Lekudere, in discussion 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.

Unknown's avatar

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.

Leave a comment