Mursik

Mursik

Gourd used to make Mursik
Alternative names	Maziwa Mala(Swahili)
Type	"Milk"
Course	Drink
Place of origin	Kenya
Region or state	Rift Valley
Cooking time
Serving temperature	Room Temperature
Main ingredients	Milk
Ingredients generally used	Soot(Optional), Cow Blood(optional)
Similar dishes	Yogurt, Sour Milk

Mursik is a traditional fermented milk variant of the Kalenjin people of Kenya. It can be made from cow or goat milk and is fermented in a specially made calabash gourd. The gourd is lined with sooth from specific trees which add flavor to the fermented milk. It is normally consumed with Ugali or on its own and is served at room temperature or chilled.

Mursik is prepared primarily from cows' milk (but also less commonly goat's milk, or rarely sheep's milk) fermented in specially made seasoned milk gourds that are pre-treated with the smoke and charcoal of certain species of trees prior to each use. Fresh/raw milk (or, more commonly in modern times, milk that has been first boiled then cooled to ambient temperature) is poured into the specially prepared gourd. The gourd is then capped and placed in a cool dry place to undergo spontaneous fermentation for at least three to five days, through the action of lactic acid bacteria, yeast and mould species. Traditionally in some communities, but very rarely in modern times, fresh blood tapped from a cow may have been added to fresh milk before fermentation, or to already fermented milk. Lactobacillus plantarum was found to be the most dominant of the lactic acid bacteria involved in the production of mursik. Other lactic acid bacteria isolated from mursik are and Enterococcus faecium. Saccharomyces sp. and Geotrichum candidum have also been isolated from mursik

Smoke and charcoal from specific trees has long been used in the traditional production of fermented milk products in Kenya. Among the common tree species used by farmers for milk treatment in production of mursik are Senna didymobotrya, Lippia kituiensis, Prunus africana and Olea europaea ssp. africana.

A gourd is smeared inside with special charcoal called "osek"; from this, gray lines can be seen when pouring the thick, sour milk. In preparing the gourd, the Kalenjin women, for instance, make a brush (sosiot) from a branch of cycad tree used to clean the inside. Brushes made from this tree are hardy and may last for up to two years before replacement.