Smen (from Arabic: سمن or سمنة also called sman, semn, semneh, or sminn) is a salted, fermented butter, and a traditional Yemeni dish. In Yemen, Yemenis prepare a special version of semneh (سمنة) which is smoked with aromatic herbs inside of a gourd in order to impart deeper flavour and aid in preservation. However, smen is also an important ingredient in Middle Eastern cuisine and North African cooking. It is produced using the butter made from the milk of sheep, goats or a combination of the two. The butter is brought to its boiling point for about 15 minutes, then skimmed, strained into a ceramic jar called a , and salted before it curdles. Some have it as a practice to add roasted fenugreek seeds to the boiling butter, after which it is strained from the fenugreek seeds. Thyme is often