Salted butter aged for months until it turns cheesy and pungent, then stirred into couscous and tagines. It is aged in sealed earthenware, sometimes buried; a pot laid down at a daughter’s birth is opened at her wedding, and old smen is prized like a vintage.
It is a fat ripened for months or years in a sealed vessel at ambient temperature, where the clarification has to remove essentially all the water first — an incompletely clarified batch does not age, it goes bad.
What goes into it
- butter, usually from sheep’s or goat’s milk
- coarse salt
- sometimes oregano or thyme in the boil
How it is made
Butter is melted and clarified, the milk solids and water driven off, then salted heavily and packed into a sealed earthenware pot. Removing the water is what makes the keeping possible; the salt and the seal do the rest. It ripens for months to years, developing an intense cheesy rancidity that is the whole point.
How long it takes: months at minimum; the prized pots run for years or decades
How it is eaten
A spoonful stirred into couscous, harira and tagine, or spread on bread with honey.
History
Aged in sealed earthenware, sometimes buried; a pot laid down at a daughter’s birth is opened at her wedding, and old smen is prized like a vintage.
Frequently asked questions
What is Smen?
Smen is a cheese & dairy from Morocco: salted butter aged for months until cheesy and pungent, stirred into couscous. Aged in sealed earthenware, sometimes buried; a pot laid down at a daughter’s birth is opened at her wedding, and old smen is prized like a vintage.
How is Smen made?
Butter is melted and clarified, the milk solids and water driven off, then salted heavily and packed into a sealed earthenware pot. Removing the water is what makes the keeping possible; the salt and the seal do the rest. It ripens for months to years, developing an intense cheesy rancidity that is the whole point. It takes months at minimum; the prized pots run for years or decades.
Can I make Smen at home?
No, and the atlas gives no method for it. It is a fat ripened for months or years in a sealed vessel at ambient temperature, where the clarification has to remove essentially all the water first — an incompletely clarified batch does not age, it goes bad.
What goes into Smen?
Butter, usually from sheep’s or goat’s milk, coarse salt, sometimes oregano or thyme in the boil.
How is Smen eaten?
A spoonful stirred into couscous, harira and tagine, or spread on bread with honey.
