Noun
Pronunciation: mah-nang
Colostrum.

This entry is in the process of revision.

Manang has a yellowish tone and is thick — thicker than milk. It is also called kule narusha.

Colostrum cannot be drunk fresh, directly from the cow. It must be allowed to ferment in a lmala for two or three days, until becomes sour. Manang can be fermented in any kind of lmala — nklip, ngoiti, seenderi. Many people, however, do not like to drink it as it gives them diarrhea.

The Samburu caution that if you drink manang in the morning, you must not eat or drink any food — not even water — until evening, or about six hours after drinking colostrum. While I have not personally consumed manang, I have drunk a mixture of milk and blood that I found delicious. However, not having been warned that adults must rest for some hours after drinking, I asked for a second cup and then walked a kilometer back to where I was staying, where I promptly vomited. I was then told that adults needed to rest after drinking. Based on this experience, my advice to you is to heed the Samburu: Colostrum is delicious, but rich, so don’t mix it with water or other foods. 

I will pass on this further advice: Do not serve colostrum to young children because they drink water regularly. Only serve it to people who are in their teens or older. 

“When the cow takes a [gives] birth, you can take [drink] this milk almost six days until it turns white. Good milk, very good milk, it will make you strong.” — Longhiro Lekudere in conversation with William Rubel, January 2025.

Return to Stages of Milk Fermentation.

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