William Rubel Stages of Milk Fermentation

ranganya

Noun
Pronunciation: [roll the ‘r’] rahn-gahn’-ya
Caramelized cheese made from cooking ngorno curds.

This sweet, brown cheese is made by cooking nkeisiich (buttermilk) to the point it begins to caramelize. Ranganya is related to the Norwegian whey cheeses of gjetost (made from goat milk) and mysost (made from cow milk). Like these Scandinavian cheeses, ranganya is sweet. It is usually fed to Samburu children.

Return to Stages of Milk Fermentation.

This is the draft manuscript of the Samburu Milk Project, © 2024 William Rubel.

William Rubel Stages of Milk Fermentation

manang

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.

William Rubel Stages of Milk Fermentation

ngorno

Noun.
Pronunc. n-yorn’-nyoh.
Curds; butter.

Ngorno has two meanings. It means curds, and it also means butter. The curd/butter concept is linked in the Northern Maa dialect, as butter is made from churned curd. In addition to making butter from curds, when ngorno is cooked for 30 minutes to an hour or so (shorter time on a wood fire, longer time on a charcoal fire, reflecting differences in the fire’s heat), it makes nkeisiich (ricotta).

One Samburu friend tells that when the nkeisiich is cooked longer, to the point it begins to caramelize, then it becomes ranganya. This will be related to the Norwegian whey cheeses of gjetost (when made from goat milk) and mysost (when made from cow milk). Like these Scandinavian cheeses, ranganya is sweet. Its most common use was as a treat for children. (This statement is properly past tense, as it has been a long time since there was enough milk to produce a surplus for processing into longer-keeping products.)

It is important to note that you are not able to recreate the flavor and aroma of any Samburu milk product unless you start with milk that has been infused with a botanical that was burned to suffuse the inside surface of the wooden lmala with a fine film of soot residue. Milk that is allowed to sour and clabber inside the lmala retains a taste and aroma profile that traces back to the wood used in the milk preparation. If there is further storage, of a processed milk product, such as for ngorno (butter), then it stored in a container that has been cleaned with cow urine and then rinsed with water.

See Recipe – Ngorno.

Return to Stages of Milk Fermentation.

This is the draft manuscript of the Samburu Milk Project, © 2024 William Rubel.

William Rubel Stages of Milk Fermentation

Stages of Milk Fermentation

The fermentation process begins with the lmala container being cleaned with burning botanicals. Kule (milk) is added to the container and then the milk goes through stages of fermentation; if left too long, it goes bad. The Samburu people of northern Kenya have traditionally fermented milk from their animal herds in containers made of wood or gourd, known as lmala (singular) and lmalasin (plural).

The stages of milk fermentation, from fresh to rotten, proceed in the following order:

  1. Kule nairewa – fresh and warm from the animal
  2. Kule nairobi – cooled and beginning to ferment
  3. Kule naoto (alternatively, kule kowoto) – ripened and ready to drink milk
  4. Kule naisukutan – flavor shifts from sweet to sour
  5. Kule naishicho – sour milk
  6. Kule nataroitie – milk that has gone bad but didn’t fully sour
  7. Kule ntorok – rotten milk

Explore Samburu words about milk fermentation

Each link below will take you to an in-depth description of the term, including a pronunciation guide, and how the word relates to milk fermentation.

I encourage you to begin with kule to gain a basic understanding of the importance of fermented milk in Samburu culture.

kule – general term for milk

More

Use the following links to explore additional content collected through the Samburu Milk Project.

Introduction to the Samburu Milk Project
Dictionary Methodology and Acknowledgements
Milk Taste and Texture Terms
Types of Milk Containers (Lmalasin)
Botanicals for Lmala Preparation
The Culture of Milk — Common Idioms and Expressions
Other Samburu Words 
Milk, Music, and Religion — scheduled completion in late 2025
Milking Songs — scheduled completion in late 2025

This is the draft manuscript of the Samburu Milk Project, © 2024 William Rubel.