Amasi/Maas: African fermented milk

[CeeCee]

So I came across amasi while reading in a South African cookbook. On Wikipedia it says it's a fermented milk that tastes like cottage cheese or plain yoghurt. Would these be agreeable substitutes, even when it's made of pasteurized milk?
Looking at a container it's being sold in, I guess should definitely look out for a rather thick product?

 

[Darienne]

As hard-shelled gourd artisans...that's what my avatar photo is...my DH and I are very familiar with the 'calabash' and its uses in the world.  (I use the word 'calabash' in quotation marks because the actual calabash comes from a calabash tree and although a dried calabash looks like a dried gourd to a great extent, it's not the same thing.) 

 

You might be interested to know that this milk substance is often mixed, in the dried and cleaned out gourd, with fresh animal blood for a meal.  Don't know the name of this mixture, but it's not something which I am eager to try.  Not now; not ever. 

[JohnT]

CeeCee, what recipe do you want to use maas in? It is very common in our supermarkets here and is normally drunk directly out the carton by the African population. It is not used very much in my part of the country in cooking or baking. John

[ChrisTaylor]

I reckon you'd be better off with buttermilk.