Geo quiz answer: Morocco

Old Butter! That’s your first clue for today’s Geo Quiz.

We’re in a north African country with a coast line along the Atlantic. This country is known for its aromatic cuisine.

One thing they make there is aged butter… or “smen.”

Paula Wolfert first tasted this robust butter back in…well, we’ll let HER tell the story.

Paula WolfertPaula Wolfert”Back in 1969, just before we put a man on the moon, I happened to be down in the pre-Sahara. We broke down in our car and we went into this little village and this pharmacist spoke Spanish, luckily somebody spoke something that I could speak cause I didn’t speak Berber. And he invited us into his home, to have some tea and some bread and he brought out this butter, which tasted of wild herbs and almonds and it was straw colored and it was very dense but it was very delicious with sweet mint tea.”

Paula Wolfert not only ate it. She started making it.

More about that in a bit… But first, where do the locals butter their bread with smen?

The answer’s here…

Our Geo Quiz today took us to a north African nation, with a tradition of aging butter.

That country is Morocco.

And the ripe butter is called smen. Smen is hard to find here in the U.S. But it’s a vital ingredient for Moroccan cooking.

Its flavor is layered with salt, herbs and time. Lots of time. You have to let this butter sit for about 6 weeks.

Cookbook author Paula Wolfert knows all about it.