Ayib

Ayib is a soft Ethiopian fresh cheese similar to cottage cheese. At meals, it acts as a simple, cooling foil to many of the complex and sometimes fiery tastes in Ethiopian cuisine.

It is usually made at home or through farmhouse production.

Like Western Cottage cheese, it is a by-product of making butter.

Cow's milk for making butter is accumulated for several days, then, when there is enough for a batch of butter, it is put in a warm rise where the temperature can rise to about 86 F (30 C) for 1 to 2 days. Then it is churned (by shaking or other means, to make the butter.)

What's left behind as a by-product is the buttermilk. This is heated to 105 to 120 F (40 - 50 C). The whey is then drained off overnight through a cloth. What's left in the cloth is the Ayib cheese.

About 1.5 to 2 US gallons (6 to 8 litres) of buttermilk will make 2 1/4 pounds (1 kg) of Ayib. About 2% fat.
Aka Ayb. National Research Council (U.S.). Panel on the Applications of Biotechnology to Traditional Fermented Foods. Applications of biotechnology to traditional fermented foods: report of an ad hoc panel of the Board on Science and Technology for International Development. National Academies. 1992. Pages 71 to 74.

Yilma, Zelalem, G Loiseau* and B Faye. Manufacturing efficiencies and microbial properties of butter and Ayib - Ethiopian cottage cheese. Dairy Technology, Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research, Holetta Research Center, PO Box 2003, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. 2007.

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Butter, Milk