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    Ash yoghurt cata­pults pas­tor­al­ists to in­ter­na­tional star­dom

    In a move that prom­ises to in­crease Kenya’s milk shelf life and di­ver­sify milk products offered loc­ally, mem­bers of the Tar­boi com­munity of West­ern Pokot are mak­ing yoghurt from goat and cow milk then adding ash made from the nat­ive Cromwo tree as a dis­in­fect­ant and pre­ser­vat­ive, giv­ing the yoghurt a dis­tinct­ive aro­matic fla­vor and speckled grey col­our.

    The fer­men­ted milk is stored in a spe­cial gourd that is also treated or seasoned with ash in a prac­tice that has now brought the group to prom­in­ence in world fairs such as the world food gath­er­ing in Turin Italy. The ash yoghurt was re­cently on dis­play at the Slow Food Cheese Fair, a bi­en­nial event in Italy that brings to­gether cheese makers and cheese lov­ers from all over the world.

    The group has also been in­vited to the next Cheese fair to ex­hibit the yoghurt again and has learnt from other Italian farm­ers how to make cheese and pre­serve milk. Be­hind this in­ter­na­tional ac­claim is a group of 21 pas­toral house­holds who have worked tire­lessly to en­sure that the chain of milk pro­duc­tion is strictly high qual­ity and hy­gienic. The group has en­joyed sup­port from Slow Food in­ter­na­tional, an in­ter­na­tional move­ment ded­ic­ated to provid­ing al­tern­at­ives to fast food by pre­serving tra­di­tional and re­gional food and en­cour­aging the farm­ing of plants, seeds and live­stock that are in line with local eco­sys­tems.

    Based on the fact that good milk comes from the type of fod­der eaten and the care given to live­stock, the group has mon­itored the fod­der given to the live­stock with the pas­tor­al­ists mov­ing off syn­thetic feeds. Cows, for ex­ample, are only al­lowed to feed on nat­ural pas­ture with sup­ple­ment­ary or­ganic feeds like milllet, sweet pota­toes, napier grass being given once in a while.

    The Slow Food mem­bers, who are Kenyans who gradu­ated from the In­ter­na­tional Uni­versity of Gast­ro­nomic Sci­ences in Italy, which was foun­ded by Slow Food, fre­quently or­gan­ise train­ing for the pas­tor­al­ists on veter­in­ary ser­vices, feed man­age­ment and have even em­ployed a local veter­in­ary of­ficer.

    Strin­gent rules are laid out for any­one wish­ing to pro­duce the ash yoghurt for sale, which in­clude provid­ing a state­ment of activ­it­ies spe­cify­ing the loc­a­tion of their farm and the his­tory of milk pro­duc­tion of the cattle. This is then sub­mit­ted to the Slow Food West­ern Kenya Of­fice and the Tar­soi group for ap­proval.

    Once both groups are sat­is­fied that the group has met the pro­duc­tion stand­ards, a cer­ti­fic­ate is is­sued by Slow Food West­ern Kenya de­clar­ing the yoghurt is pro­duced in ac­cord­ance with the re­quired rules.

    Where there is fail­ure to com­ply with the stand­ards con­tained in the spe­cific­a­tion, the pro­du­cer in­curs pen­al­ties and the Com­mis­sion will eval­u­ate from time to time, de­pend­ing on the sever­ity of case, any dis­cip­lin­ary ac­tion be taken against the pro­du­cer. The com­mis­sion will then make a re­port whereby it will res­ult in the sus­pen­sion of the mark.

    Peter Nami­anya is one of the gradu­ates who has seen the Tar­soi group grow and ac­com­pan­ied the pas­tor­al­ists to the Cheese fair. “The kind of qual­ity that any product that is to be ex­hib­ited at the cheese fair has to meet is very high and in­ter­na­tional. That ex­plains why we have to be very strict with the yoghurt pro­du­cers who want to be part of us. But we are glad all of them are ad­her­ing to these prac­tices and they see sense in this,” he said.

    De­pend­ing on the avail­ab­il­ity of milk, known as Lolon a large quant­ity of the milk  is pre­pared at once or al­tern­at­ively small quant­it­ies of milk can be poured into a pre­pared gourd on a daily basis until it is full. The fer­men­ted milk provides the cul­ture for the new milk and ac­cel­er­ates the pro­cess of ripen­ing. The milk is left to settle in a quiet place.
    Once it is co­agu­lated, some whey, the wa­tery part of the milk that re­mains after the form­a­tion of curds, is re­moved and sub­sequently, some more fresh milk is added on top.​This pro­cess is re­peated until the con­tainer is full of partly-drained curd.

    The whole pro­cess takes on av­er­age one week de­pend­ing on the size of the con­tainer. When the milk ripens a cer­tain amount of ash is added to pre­serve and fla­vour it. The ash is ob­tained by burn­ing the trunk and the bark of the Cromwo tree to get char­coal which is then crushed into powder. The con­cen­trated fer­men­ted milk is then shaken be­fore con­sump­tion and can last up to a month be­fore going bad.

    The mar­ket for the ash yoghurt is cur­rently con­cen­trated among  neigh­bours, mar­kets and res­taur­ants in Kapen­guria town, but the group now has its eyes now set on big cit­ies like Kitale, El­doret and Nairobi once the pro­duc­tion of the yoghurt sta­bil­izes and pro­du­cers in­crease from the 21 house­holds cur­rently in­volved in the ven­ture.

    “At the mo­ment, we are work­ing on pro­duc­tion phase to make more avail­able to meet the local de­mand be­fore going re­gional,” said Peter. The group also hopes to now di­ver­sify into cheese mak­ing based on the suc­cesses they learnt from Italian farm­ers.

    The group is also now look­ing at cross-breed­ing the local Zebu cow to give more op­tions of milk source. “Our ul­ti­mate hope is that we can man­age to pro­mote these products and com­munity so that they are sus­tain­able on their own in fu­ture and re­vo­lu­tion­ize milk pro­duc­tion and value ad­di­tion,” said Peter.

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    In a move that prom­ises to in­crease Kenya’s milk shelf life and di­ver­sify milk products offered loc­ally, mem­bers of the Tar­boi com­munity of West­ern Pokot are mak­ing yoghurt from goat and cow milk then adding ash made from the nat­ive Cromwo tree as a dis­in­fect­ant and pre­ser­vat­ive, giv­ing the yoghurt a dis­tinct­ive aro­matic fla­vor and speckled grey col­our.

    The fer­men­ted milk is stored in a spe­cial gourd that is also treated or seasoned with ash in a prac­tice that has now brought the group to prom­in­ence in world fairs such as the world food gath­er­ing in Turin Italy. The ash yoghurt was re­cently on dis­play at the Slow Food Cheese Fair, a bi­en­nial event in Italy that brings to­gether cheese makers and cheese lov­ers from all over the world.

    The group has also been in­vited to the next Cheese fair to ex­hibit the yoghurt again and has learnt from other Italian farm­ers how to make cheese and pre­serve milk.

    Be­hind this in­ter­na­tional ac­claim is a group of 21 pas­toral house­holds who have worked tire­lessly to en­sure that the chain of milk pro­duc­tion is strictly high qual­ity and hy­gienic. The group has en­joyed sup­port from Slow Food in­ter­na­tional, an in­ter­na­tional move­ment ded­ic­ated to provid­ing al­tern­at­ives to fast food by pre­serving tra­di­tional and re­gional food and en­cour­aging the farm­ing of plants, seeds and live­stock that are in line with local eco­sys­tems.

    Based on the fact that good milk comes from the type of fod­der eaten and the care given to live­stock, the group has mon­itored the fod­der given to the live­stock with the pas­tor­al­ists mov­ing off syn­thetic feeds. Cows, for ex­ample, are only al­lowed to feed on nat­ural pas­ture with sup­ple­ment­ary or­ganic feeds like milllet, sweet pota­toes, napier grass being given once in a while.

    The Slow Food mem­bers, who are Kenyans who gradu­ated from the In­ter­na­tional Uni­versity of Gast­ro­nomic Sci­ences in Italy, which was foun­ded by Slow Food, fre­quently or­gan­ise train­ing for the pas­tor­al­ists on veter­in­ary ser­vices, feed man­age­ment and have even em­ployed a local veter­in­ary of­ficer.

    Strin­gent rules are laid out for any­one wish­ing to pro­duce the ash yoghurt for sale, which in­clude provid­ing a state­ment of activ­it­ies spe­cify­ing the loc­a­tion of their farm and the his­tory of milk pro­duc­tion of the cattle. This is then sub­mit­ted to the Slow Food West­ern Kenya Of­fice and the Tar­soi group for ap­proval.

    Once both groups are sat­is­fied that the group has met the pro­duc­tion stand­ards, a cer­ti­fic­ate is is­sued by Slow Food West­ern Kenya de­clar­ing the yoghurt is pro­duced in ac­cord­ance with the re­quired rules.

    Where there is fail­ure to com­ply with the stand­ards con­tained in the spe­cific­a­tion, the pro­du­cer in­curs pen­al­ties and the Com­mis­sion will eval­u­ate from time to time, de­pend­ing on the sever­ity of case, any dis­cip­lin­ary ac­tion be taken against the pro­du­cer. The com­mis­sion will then make a re­port whereby it will res­ult in the sus­pen­sion of the mark.

    PeterNami­anyais one of the gradu­ates who has seen the Tar­soi group grow and ac­com­pan­ied the pas­tor­al­ists to the Cheese fair. “The kind of qual­ity that any product that is to be ex­hib­ited at the cheese fair has to meet is very high and in­ter­na­tional. That ex­plains why we have to be very strict with the yoghurt pro­du­cers who want to be part of us. But we are glad all of them are ad­her­ing to these prac­tices and they see sense in this,” he said.

    De­pend­ing on the avail­ab­il­ity of milk, known as Lolon a large quant­ity of the milk  is pre­pared at once or al­tern­at­ively small quant­it­ies of milk can be poured into a pre­pared gourd on a daily basis until it is full. The fer­men­ted milk provides the cul­ture for the new milk and ac­cel­er­ates the pro­cess of ripen­ing. The milk is left to settle in a quiet place.

    Once it is co­agu­lated, some whey, the wa­tery part of the milk that re­mains after the form­a­tion of curds, is re­moved and sub­sequently, some more fresh milk is added on top.

    This pro­cess is re­peated until the con­tainer is full of partly-drained curd.

    The whole pro­cess takes on av­er­age one week de­pend­ing on the size of the con­tainer. When the milk ripens a cer­tain amount of ash is added to pre­serve and fla­vour it. The ash is ob­tained by burn­ing the trunk and the bark of the Cromwo tree to get char­coal which is then crushed into powder. The con­cen­trated fer­men­ted milk is then shaken be­fore con­sump­tion and can last up to a month be­fore going bad.

    The mar­ket for the ash yoghurt is cur­rently con­cen­trated among  neigh­bours, mar­kets and res­taur­ants in Kapen­guria town, but the group now has its eyes now set on big cit­ies like Kitale, El­doret and Nairobi once the pro­duc­tion of the yoghurt sta­bil­izes and pro­du­cers in­crease from the 21 house­holds cur­rently in­volved in the ven­ture.

    “At the mo­ment, we are work­ing on pro­duc­tion phase to make more avail­able to meet the local de­mand be­fore going re­gional,” saidPeter. The group also hopes to now di­ver­sify into cheese mak­ing based on the suc­cesses they learnt from Italian farm­ers.

    The group is also now look­ing at cross-breed­ing the local Zebu cow to give more op­tions of milk source. “Our ul­ti­mate hope is that we can man­age to pro­mote these products and com­munity so that they are sus­tain­able on their own in fu­ture and re­vo­lu­tion­ize milk pro­duc­tion and value ad­di­tion,” saidPeter.

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