Noun
Pronunciation: XXX
A rag for the final stage of calabash preparation.
A musuti is traditionally made from the twisted fibers of the inner bark of a tree — seepei in the Highlands or lchurai in the Lowlands.
Some women weave a musuti by unraveling the white plastic threads of grain sacks. Using this style of musuti speeds up the final cleaning process but cannot produce the finest, most subtle milk flavors. In fact, nkalani (dirty) women tend to use the plastic scrubber as a shortcut. And yes, one can taste the difference.
Return to Types of Milk Containers.
This is the draft manuscript of the Samburu Milk Project, © 2024 William Rubel.
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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Samburu Research 