In Morocco, smen (or sman) is still a delicacy. It is made by kneading butter with various decoctions of herbs, cinnamon, and other spices; the mixture is then cooked, salted, and strained like ghee. It is poured into jugs, tightly stoppered, and buried in the ground for months, sometimes years. Stores of the precious stuff are saved for special feasts. The smell is considered especially magnificent: a particularly aged pot of the family smen may be brought out of the cellars for honoured guests to sniff. The smen represents the riches of the house. The necessity of “doctoring” a perishable substance in order to save it in hot weather is in this manner turned into a gastronomic triumph, and hedged about with tradition and prestige. Other versions of clarified butter, called samna by non-Moroccan Arabs, are to be found throughout the Middle East.
This is an aspect of cultured dairy withwhich I was heretofore unfamilar but I am very, very excited to try it, especially since it is traditionally a sheep or goats milk butter. mmmmm. . .
