A soft white curd cheese, fried golden and skewered for sale by the roadside. It is a Yoruba cheese curdled with sap from the sodom apple plant, long made by Fulani dairy women in the southwest.
The coagulant is latex from Calotropis procera, a plant whose sap is a documented skin and eye irritant and is toxic if the extract is prepared wrongly — the dose and the preparation are the dairy women’s craft, and there is no shop substitute.
What goes into it
- cow’s milk
- sap or leaf extract of Calotropis procera — the sodom apple
- salt
How it is made
Fresh milk is heated and the coagulant — an extract from the sodom apple plant, whose latex contains protein-cutting enzymes — is stirred in, setting the milk into a soft curd within minutes. The curd is drained in a basket and pressed lightly, then either sold fresh or fried and skewered.
How long it takes: hours; eaten the same day
How it is eaten
Fried golden and skewered at the roadside, or simmered in stew and pepper sauce.
History
A Yoruba cheese curdled with sap from the sodom apple plant, long made by Fulani dairy women in the southwest.
Frequently asked questions
What is Wara?
Wara is a cheese & dairy from Nigeria: soft white curd cheese, fried golden and skewered for sale by the roadside. A Yoruba cheese curdled with sap from the sodom apple plant, long made by Fulani dairy women in the southwest.
How is Wara made?
Fresh milk is heated and the coagulant — an extract from the sodom apple plant, whose latex contains protein-cutting enzymes — is stirred in, setting the milk into a soft curd within minutes. The curd is drained in a basket and pressed lightly, then either sold fresh or fried and skewered. It takes hours; eaten the same day.
Can I make Wara at home?
No, and the atlas gives no method for it. The coagulant is latex from Calotropis procera, a plant whose sap is a documented skin and eye irritant and is toxic if the extract is prepared wrongly — the dose and the preparation are the dairy women’s craft, and there is no shop substitute.
What goes into Wara?
Cow’s milk, sap or leaf extract of Calotropis procera — the sodom apple, salt.
How is Wara eaten?
Fried golden and skewered at the roadside, or simmered in stew and pepper sauce.
