What Is Smen? Morocco’s Aged Butter Explained

Smen is a salted, aged butter from North Africa, and in Morocco it’s the ingredient that gives couscous, harira and some tagines their deep, old-fashioned flavor. It’s made from cow, sheep or goat butter, salted, sometimes mixed with herbs, and left to mature in a sealed jar for weeks, months or even years. The result smells a lot like strong blue cheese and tastes rich, salty and savory.

If you’ve ever eaten couscous in a Moroccan home and wondered why it tasted different from yours, smen is often the answer.

What does smen taste like?

The smell hits first. Smen is pungent, a bit like aged cheese, and people who aren’t used to it are often surprised. But a small spoonful stirred into hot food doesn’t taste of cheese at all. It melts into a deep, savory, nutty richness that plain butter can’t give you. The older the smen, the stronger it gets.

How smen is made

There are two traditional ways, and families swear by their own:

• Cultured butter method: fresh butter is kneaded with salt, packed into a jar and left to ferment.
• Clarified butter method: the butter is first melted and strained, like ghee, then salted and stored.

Some people knead in water that’s been infused with dried thyme or oregano for extra flavor. The jar is sealed and kept somewhere cool and dark. In the past, families buried clay jars of smen in the ground to age. A story you’ll hear often is that a jar was buried when a daughter was born and opened years later for her wedding feast. You can read more about how it’s made on Wikipedia.

Smen vs ghee vs butter

	Smen	Ghee	Butter
How it’s made	Salted and aged, sometimes clarified	Clarified, not aged	Fresh
Smell	Strong, cheesy	Mild, nutty	Mild, creamy
Keeps	Months to years	Months	Weeks
How much to use	A teaspoon or two	Like oil or butter	As much as you like

Ghee and smen look similar in the jar, but they’re not the same thing. Ghee is simply butter with the milk solids cooked off. Smen is aged, and that aging is where all the flavor comes from.

How Moroccans use smen

A little goes a very long way. Most recipes call for a teaspoon or a tablespoon, not more.

• Couscous: a spoonful is rubbed into the steamed grains before serving. This is the most classic use. Try it with our Moroccan couscous recipe.
• Harira: some families add a little smen to the pot for a richer broth. Here’s our harira recipe.
• Tanjia and tagines: smen goes into Marrakech’s famous tanjia and into some lamb and beef tagines. You’ll find tanjia on our list of famous foods in Morocco.
• On bread: a thin layer of smen on warm khobz or msemen, sometimes with honey, is an old-school breakfast in some homes.

Smen outside Morocco

Morocco isn’t the only place that loves aged butter. Algeria and Tunisia have their own versions, and across the Middle East a clarified butter called samn is a kitchen staple, although it’s usually milder and not aged the same way. In Yemen, smen is part of the everyday kitchen too. What makes the Moroccan kind stand out is the long aging and that unmistakable smell.

Is it worth making smen at home?

If you’re curious, yes. It’s mostly a lesson in patience: good butter, salt, a clean jar and a few weeks of waiting. The hard part is keeping everything very clean so the butter ages instead of spoiling. For most people outside Morocco, though, a small tub from a North African shop is the easiest way to try it before deciding whether you love it. And you’ll know pretty quickly, because nobody feels neutral about smen.

Where to buy smen

In Morocco, smen is sold everywhere, from supermarket tubs to small shops where it’s scooped out of big jars. In Fez there’s even a square in the old medina known for smen sellers, which NPR visited a few years ago. Outside Morocco, look in North African or Middle Eastern grocery shops or online. It’s sometimes labeled samn or sman.

How to store smen

Keep it in a clean, tightly closed jar in a cool, dark cupboard, or in the fridge once it’s open. Always use a clean, dry spoon. A cheesy smell is normal. Fuzzy mold, pink or black spots, or a sour, rotten smell are not, and that jar should go.

Can I replace smen?

Yes, but you’ll lose some of the flavor. Ghee is the closest swap and plain butter works too. You’ll get a lovely dish, just a milder one.

Smen FAQ

Is smen the same as ghee?

No. Both can be clarified, but smen is salted and aged, which gives it a strong, cheesy flavor. Ghee is mild.

Why does smen smell so strong?

The aging. As it matures, it develops the same kind of sharp, funky notes you find in aged cheese.

How long does smen last?

A long time. Well-made smen keeps for months in a cool, dark place, and traditionally it was aged for years on purpose.

How much smen should I use?

Start with a teaspoon in a family-sized pot. You can always add more.

Is smen used in sweet dishes?

Not usually. It’s mostly for couscous, soups, tagines and bread.

Smen is one of those ingredients that sounds strange until you taste what it does to a plate of couscous. If you’re getting to know Moroccan pantry staples, read about amlou next, or see what goes on a Moroccan breakfast table.