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EveryCow

Curd and fermented milk

Lben

The soured buttermilk of the Maghreb, left after butter is churned in a skin, drunk cold with dates or couscous.

Lben is the buttermilk of North Africa. Milk is left to sour naturally, then shaken or churned until the butter comes, and the thin, tangy liquid that remains is lben. It is drunk cold with couscous, with dates and bread, and to break the fast in Ramadan. Across the Levant and Arabia the related word laban can also mean yoghurt.

What goes in

Raw milk: 71%71%Time in a warm room: 14%14%Churn or skin: 14%14%3parts
  • Raw milk1071%, Left to sour naturally.
  • Time in a warm room214%, About a day.
  • Churn or skin214%, Rocked until the butter comes.

Rough parts by weight. The ring shows each input's share of the product.

Made step by step

Each drawing shows the operation for that step. Quantities and timings differ from house to house and herd to herd; this is one traditional way, in outline.

  1. Step 1: Ferment Leave fresh milk covered in a warm place until it sours and thickens.
  2. Step 2: Churn Pour it into a skin or churn and rock it until butter gathers.
  3. Step 3: Strain Lift out the butter for eating or for smen.
  4. Step 4: Serve Chill the lben and serve it with couscous or dates.
  5. Raw milk: 71%71%Time in a warm room: 14%14%Churn or skin: 14%14%
    Finished Lben, by share.

Churned in a skin

In rural Morocco and Algeria the soured milk was traditionally churned in a goatskin or a clay churn, rocked or hung from a tripod and swung until the butter gathered. The butter, zebda, is eaten fresh or salted and stored as smen. Lben was the household drink, and the rhythm of churning was part of the morning.

At the table

Couscous with lben is a simple meal in many Maghrebi homes, especially in summer. A glass of lben with dates is common at iftar in Algeria and Morocco. Shops and dairies now sell it in cartons, and it is also used to make leavened breads and the fresh cheese jben.

Where it is used

With couscousWith dates at iftarSummer drink

The breeds behind it

Holstein FriesianThe main dairy breed of Morocco's modern farms.MontbéliardeFrench dairy breed kept in the Maghreb.

More on EveryCow

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Sources and further reading

About this page

Original text and drawings by the EveryCow desk, written with AI assistance and checked against the sources above. The shares are a rough, illustrative ratio, not a recipe: every family and dairy makes it differently. If we have something wrong, tell us.

Photo credits on this page

The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.

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