Ewe's milk

The Gwdaïdän people of the Daïdänt mountains are primarily a herding culture, with a diet consisting mainly of meat and dairy. The staple foods in Gwdaïdän cuisine are dairy-based: cheeses, yoghurts, and curds, flavoured with herbs and berries.

Cheese

The most famous food of the Daïdänt, cheese made from goat and sheep milk provides the bulk of their protein intake. There are approximately a hundred types of cheese produced in the region, with each family group having a different recipe or technique for flavouring the cheese.

Yoghurt

Two main types of yoghurt and produced and consumed in the Daïdänt mountains: a thin drinking yoghurt, similar to buttermilk, which is drunk at breakfast, and a thicker 'dessert' yoghurt, which is sweetened with berries or honey and served with cream.

Curds

Drechwg is a set dessert made of milk curds and rennet, served with dried fruit and chopped nuts. It is traditionally served at the feast of the First.

Wirth

A sour, mildly alcoholic beverage made from fermented sheep's milk and honey. Wirth is produced by adding a liquid starter culture and wild honeycomb to sheep's milk, then gently warming it while churning (not so briskly as to make butter). It takes 1-3 days to make, and is served at room temperature unflavoured. The low alcohol content makes it suitable even for yutaaq.

Wirth can also be distilled into fermented milk brandy, and is popular among ialy.