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Smen (from also called sman, semn, semneh, or sminn) is a salted, fermented butter native to North African cuisine (Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia), as well as a traditional Yemeni dish. In countries like Jordan and Lebanon, samneh is a type of butter similar to clarified butter, while north African smen is a type of fermented butter similar to ghee.
Smen is an important ingredient in Middle Eastern cuisine and North African cooking. It is produced using butter made from the milk of sheep, or a combination of the two. The butter is brought to its boiling point, then skimmed, then strained into a ceramic jar, and salted before it . Some add roasted fenugreek seeds to the boiling butter, after which it is strained from the fenugreek seeds. Thyme is often added to provide a yeast and enzyme starter. Other plants or fruits can be used. The result is then aged, often in sealed containers. It is then traditionally buried in the ground for temperature stability purposes, like cheese is left to mature in caves because they have cooler and more stable temperatures.
It is similar to ghee, clarified butter, and niter kibbeh. samneh is typically cooked for longer than clarified butter to further remove water and solids and thus extend its shelf life.
In the Sinai Peninsula as well as part of the Levant, samneh is traditionally prepared using a leather bag.
Samneh baladieh is a core component of many sweets, like baklava and knafeh.
The milks used are traditionally cow, goat, ewe, or a mixture.
According to popular legend, Berber people farmers in southern Morocco will sometimes bury a sealed vessel of smen on the day of a daughter's birth, aging it until it is unearthed and used to season the food served at that daughter's wedding.
Yemenis prepare a special version of semneh (سمنة) which is smoked with aromatic herbs inside of a gourd in order to impart deeper flavour and aid in preservation. Yemeni samneh is used to make a dish called fatoot samneh.
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