Wagashi

Also: wara, Peul cheese, Fulani cheese

Wagashi is the cheese of the Fulani, or Peul, cattle herders of Benin, Togo, Nigeria and their neighbours, where it is also called wara. Fresh cow milk is heated and set with the leaves or sap of Calotropis procera, the Sodom apple, whose enzymes curdle milk like rennet. The curd is ladled into small woven baskets to drain and shape it, giving round, firm, mild cheeses. They are often boiled in water, sometimes with the red leaf sheaths of sorghum, which colours the rind a deep red and helps them keep. Wagashi is fried, grilled or cooked into sauces and stews, and sold in markets across the coast and the north.

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