Afar Sour Milk

Sour milk accompanies daro or goggyta as a drink in Hirata and colleagues’ account of an Afar household in northern Ethiopia. In the same field study, Ya describes goat or sheep sour milk among the foods consumed by households in Galaiso.

The drink is distinct from teker, the sour-milk sauce seasoned with red chilli pepper and salt and poured over daro or goggyta. Those seasonings belong to the sauce in this account, rather than to the separately mentioned sour-milk drink.

Daro and goggyta recur at breakfast, lunch and dinner in household Y’s recorded routine, sometimes with milk tea or sour milk. The study describes meals shared with neighbouring households, placing the drink within a communal daily meal setting.

Although the account names sour milk and its use at meals, it does not supply a fermentation process, culture, duration or finished serving temperature. It also gives no detailed tasting or consistency description for the drink.