🥣 Amasi

Amasi is a thick soured milk from southern Africa, sometimes compared to cottage cheese or plain yogurt, but with a much sharper taste. Traditionally, unpasteurised cow’s milk is poured into a calabash (a gourd vessel that is first smoked) or a leather bag and left to ferment for one to five days. During this time the milk sours with its own microflora, and a thin whey separates (umlaza in Zulu), which is poured off; the thick product left behind is amasi.

In pre-colonial times amasi was a staple food, and today it is a popular food and snack in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Lesotho. It is called amasi (in Ndebele, Zulu and Xhosa), emasi (Swazi), maas (Afrikaans) and mafi (Sesotho). Commercial amasi is made from pasteurised milk with a Lactococcus lactis starter.

Amasi is traditionally served in a clay pot and poured over maize porridge (pap), and it is also drunk. It differs from ordinary soured milk in its longer fermentation and the removal of whey, which makes it thicker and more sour. Home fermentation of raw milk carries safety risks, so the commercial product is safer.