Category: Indigenous Alcoholic Beverages

The Rice Beers of the Mishing People

11/8/2017

I am starting to realize that the Northeastern region of India is a major hub of rice beer brewing. Bear with me though, as it is somewhat challenging to meander through all the available information. Most sources refer to these drinks as wine, despite them actually being beer. Plus some tribes distill the fermented product while still calling it rice wine. So it is a bit confusing wading through the available information.

Still, the preparation of alcoholic beverages from rice proves to be a fascinating topic, as it is prepared completely differently.

Rice

A slight difference between rice beer cultures and barley or wheat cultures is exposure to the crop. In Europe, barley had to adapt to Northern European climates which necessitated genetic alterations to adapt to sunlight and water extremes. Domesticated rice, however, originated in an area between Eastern India and China more than 10,000 years ago. The wild variety, Oryza rufipogon, naturally grows in the region and shows a close genetic relationship to the domesticated rice cultivar (O. sativa), leading scientists to believe this is rice’s native region. So once people set up camp in the area, rice was already within the region.

Given this longer exposure to humanity, I imagine there is a greater diversity of rice beer cultures and traditions. This begs for a comparison between rice and barley beer cultures, but that is a question for another time.

Brewing Methods

Lungzubel (rice beer container) made by Lamlira in Khobak village, Dima Hasao, Assam, India.

Unlike European and African brewing methods, rice beer brewers have a different approach as rice does not have the alpha and beta amylase enzymes to break down starch. So instead of the typical mash, lauter and boil, the general outline of rice beer brewing is as follows:

Prepare the yeast cake
- Can be bought as well, depending on location
Cook (boil or steam) the rice
- The primary function of this seems to be to gelatinize the rice
Let the rice dry
- I am not sure why this step is necessary, but I haven't seen a recipe without it
Grind the yeast cake into a powder, and spread it over the rice
Place rice in a ceramic jar, filling with water to ferment
Fermentation times range from just five days to two weeks
Strain, add more water, drink!

Assam

Assam Region

Within Northeastern India lies the region of Assam. What is unique with Assam? Well besides the tea, it is close to the origins of rice. Assam is connected to the rest of India via a small 22 km strip of land in West Bengal, and shares a border with Bhutan and Bangladesh. In Assam, there's roughly around 130 tribal communities (of the 427 within India), with human settlements dating back to the stone age.

Each tribe in the region appears to have their own recipes for brewing rice beers, some with more than one way of preparation.

Take the Mishing (or Mising, I’ve read both names) who have at least two types of rice beer: Nogin Apong and Poro Apong. The former being whitish in color while the latter is a dark greenish color (I take the ‘green’ color with a grain of salt).

Mishing Tribe

The Mishing tribe is the second largest group of people located in Assam, the first being the Bodos. The Mishing peoples belong to the greater Tani community, which comprises a majority of tribes from the Arunachal Pradesh regions of India and Tibet. All Tani tribes share linguistic, cultural, and ritual similarities. It is a bit unclear when the Mishing tribe migrated from Northern China to the plains of Assam, but they did so quite a while ago (Iron age era).

Mishing house

Nogin Apong

As stated above, most Assam tribes use a glutinous rice for the purpose of brewing beer. There are reports stating that the Mishing people prefer to use a ‘sticky rice’, but fail to state which rice that is, and how ‘sticky rice’ would differ from glutinous rice.

In any case, Nogin Apong is your typical rice beer. Whitish in color, and is prepared in a similar way as Sake or Shaoxing rice wine.

To brew, the Mishing prepare their yeast cakes called Apop pitha. To do so, anywhere between 16 to 39 different plants, herbs, and twigs are gathered and cleaned along a bamboo mat. These can either be used immediately after or sun dried for later use. Then, soaked rice and the gathered plants are ground separately, then combined with a bit of water to form a dough. This dough is then shaped into ovule-like balls of about 3 cm x 6 cm and are then dried under the sun.
So with 16 - 39 different herbs, barks, and twigs going into the starter, I imagine the flavors can range greatly. The Mishing people do use two plants from within the Cinnamomum family, but I doubt they taste like cinnamon, especially when they only use the leaves of the plants.

It’s also not entirely clear how microorganisms are introduced into yeast cakes, as only one article reports inoculating Apop pitha from previous batches. I assume this is the case, as one Apop pitha yeast cake is enough to ferment around 1 kg of rice.

Next, earthenware pots are prepared for fermentation by fumigating it over a fire.

I am making the assumption here that the earthenware pots are cleaned of the remaining ash, as there are no reports of ash flavor, and that the color of Nogin Apong remains ‘whitish’.

Rice is then boiled and laid out to dry. Then, the yeast starter Apop Pitha is ground and spread over the rice, which is then placed into the earthenware pots. Banana leaves are used to seal the vessel after it has been filled with water. Then it is left to ferment for four to five days.

Poro Apong

This style of rice beer is said to be blackish to reddish brown in color, and is apparently pleasant in aroma and taste. Interestingly, the season to drink this beer is between spring through autumn, which begs the question as to why this beer is not consumed in winter.

To brew Poro Apong, an apop pitha yeast culture is created and rice is cooked as normal. But when the rice is laid to dry, an ash powder made from rice straw and husks is sprinkled over before the addition of apop pitha. This mixture is then added to earthenware pots (unclear whether these pots were cleaned in the same fashion as before), and sealed with dry straw or fresh leaves. This is then left to ferment for about twenty days.

After fermentation, the Poro Apong is filtered through a cone made from bamboo, with additional filters of banana leaves within said cone. Water is poured over the mash, to further extract more beer.

Compounds

According to one report which analyzed rice beer from Northeast India, most beers range from 3.99% to 5.09% in alcohol, although another resource states that Poro Apong has the strength between 7.52 - 18.5%. Honestly I was expecting alcohol content to be within the 7.52 - 18.5% range, as unfiltered Sake has similar alcohol levels.

For those curious, the pH ranged between 4.16 to 4.81, with detectable levels of lactic (the most predominate), oxalic, tartaric, pyruvic, formic, and acetic acids. With this range of acids present, there are similar levels of stability (i.e. shelf-life) as seen in lagers. Furthermore, each beer had differing quantities of organic acids, which further shows how the yeast starter is prepared greatly influences the quality of beer.

Conclusions

I find it fascinating how the main source of different styles within rice beers from Assam stems from how the yeast starter is prepared. Everything else remains largely the same. Perhaps since there is no boiling of wort, so to speak, grinding and mixing into the yeast starter is the best way to introduce flavors. Or, perhaps it's simply because a yeast starter guarantees the desired fermentative organisms will be present in the batch, so might as well throw in the herbs to save time.

Who knows. More research, more problems.

References

Bhuyan, Biman, and Krishna Baishya. "Ethno medicinal value of various plants used in the preparation of traditional rice beer by different tribes of Assam, India." Drug Invention Today 5.4 (2013): 335-341.

Das, Arup Jyoti, et al. "HPLC and GC‐MS analyses of organic acids, carbohydrates, amino acids and volatile aromatic compounds in some varieties of rice beer from northeast India." Journal of the Institute of Brewing 120.3 (2014): 244-252.

Gogoi, Barnali, Mayurakhi Dutta, and Prodyut Mondal. "Various Ethno Medicinal Plants used in the Preparation of Apong, a Traditional Beverage use by Mising Tribe of upper Assam." (2013).

Kardong, Devid, et al. "Evaluation of Nutritional and Biochemical aspects of Po: ro apong (Saimod)-A home made alcoholic rice beverage of Mising tribe of Assam, India." (2012).

Tanti, Bhaben, et al. "Ethnobotany of starter cultures used in alcohol fermentation by a few ethnic tribes of Northeast India." (2010).

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Brewing in Africa

12/14/2016

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Trials and Tribulations of African Women

Beer, in an archaeological sense, is a part of our collective material culture. Societies craft objects as defined by their cultural norms, applying these motifs to pottery, jewelry, or glassware. Beer certainly fits within this, but it is unique in the sense that it is created specifically to be consumed. There are objects surrounding beer as well, like mugs, artwork, blogs and the like, all signifying the object's role in that society that defines its material culture. In analyzing these objects over time, researchers can make inferences on cultural evolution. So examining beer’s role in society, we can see how that culture grows.

In Africa, one such change is happening - women are shifting the brewing of traditional beers (usually reserved for rituals) into fledgling businesses as a means of self-reliance and financial security.
Historically, beers were reserved for special rituals: annual ceremonies, births, baptisms, funerary rites, etc. Now, due to external pressures (famines, cattle loss, raiding parties, disease), women need new means of income to support their families and are turning to brewing, given its low level of investment.

There are some parallels between medieval Europe and Africa with the division of labor between the sexes. In England, for example, men were often busy with heavy work (such as farming, construction, or fishing), and the women were occupied with maintaining the household. This often meant brewing, baking, cleaning, sewing, maintaining gardens, washing, etc. But when there was surplus beer, these so-called ‘Alewives’ could sell extra to the village, and some employed this tactic full time. We see this now in Africa as well.

But it isn’t so simple. Brewing beer for ceremonies, weddings and funerals fall wayside to make a profit, denying thousands of years of tradition. But when you have household responsibilities, children to feed, and a farm to look after, it becomes harder and harder to justify free beer to the elders rather than selling the beer in town.

Surely this happened in western culture as well, once humans realized you could make a profit off beer’s industrialization. I would like to say that this is a great time to be in Africa; to see the changing of culture and the promotion of brewing culture. However, these women are not turning to brewing because it’s fun, but because it is necessary.

The Situation

In Africa, there is meaning attached to beer. Drinking can mark relations of equality, hierarchy, cooperation, and the embodiment of kinship. Beers are used for ceremonies such as seasonal rituals, births, weddings, offerings to the ancestors, and part of the feed given to working parties. As with the rest of the world, drinking in Africa is seen as an essential social activity, related to sharing and hospitality. Although it might seem trivial to some, such drinking and tradition work to maintain social cohesion amongst those participating.

Given the high inflation, falling wages, and low producer prices in most African countries, income is so low that people need to diversify their livelihood. In the Karamoja region of Uganda, it was common for men and women to live separately. This is a particularly difficult region to live in, as the area is characterized by intense heat, sporadic rainfall, droughts, and general unpredictability. So, the adopted strategy for humans was a dual subsistence of farming and herding. Women and children would tend to sorghum farms when weather allowed, and men would travel with cattle herds to ideal grazing areas. In periods of extended drought, women would go to the cattle camps to have access to milk and meat.

But this has changed in recent history. Droughts have increased in frequency, sociopolitical unrest as a result of colonialism, and an increase in raiding parties have drastically altered the way of life in this region of Uganda. Men still maintain large herds, but migration is limited to remote locations so as to avoid raiding parties, leaving women and children no access to milk. Plus, with the droughts, sorghum harvests haven‘t been optimal, and in some regions failed altogether.

So what is a family to do? Some common industries where women participate are the gathering and selling of firewood, water, materials for buildings, or selling tobacco. Yet none of these provides enough income as well as the brewing of beer. And it seems like women have been choosing this as a means of support for awhile. I would even venture to guess that this has been a fallback plan throughout all of African history, yet so far there is no evidence before the 1900s. In Karamoja, Uganda, as described above, the selling of beer didn’t begin until 2004. In other regions, like Gwembe, Zambia, women began selling beer as a response to their relocation after the village river was dammed in 1999.

There are real benefits for women entering the brewing industry. It works as income redistribution between men and women, as men make up the majority of consumers. With these earnings, women can buy foods like beans, dried fish, vegetables, nuts, tomatoes, and milk, providing their family with better nutrition. In fact, an analysis of nutrition comparison between those who sold beer and those who didn’t found that those who sold beer had greater energy, protein, fat, calcium and vitamin A intake.

Logistics of selling beer

In a sample in Nakwamoru, Kenya, 80% of the participating women brewed or sold beer. Eight were involved with brewing and selling or at least aided their friends and family, and another four regularly assisted these women. In Tanzania, a quarter of surveyed women brewed up to four times a month. Even more so, in a 1980s survey of 100,000 households in Lesotho, Swaziland, Zimbabwe and South Africa found women to be heavily concentrated in food processing, retailing, and small textile businesses.

Records of beer commercialization extend to the 1900s and is still a leading strategy for women in modern times, showing that the brewing industry is a reliable and standard method as a means of support amongst humans. Even still, women are becoming brewers in higher numbers. Why? The technological requirements to brew beer are minimal. Thus, the initial investment is small, and most women share equipment, making it easier for women to enter into the business. Plus, beer must be sold within two to three days to avoid souring, which gives rapid returns.

Beer production usually involves multiple women working together, allowing the brew happen close to home, and subsequently watch over the children in attendance. With such cooperation, brewing usually takes roughly 120 min, so it is not a major burden on other responsibilities.

Those involved in the industry but did not brew beer engaged in what is known as ‘booking.' That is, a woman would reserve (book) a certain amount of beer for resale in urban trading centers. In Uganda for example, on average, a woman would purchase 3000 USH (Ugandan Shillings) worth (roughly 20 L / 5 gal) and sold it retail for up to 4000 USH. Beer is generally sold in one-litre plastic measurements, which regularly goes for around 100s. This is standardized through local governments, in hopes of preventing more expensive beers being introduced into the market, protecting the purchasing power of drinkers, and preventing women from going out of business.

Material wise, most sacks of grain hold around 100kg. The mash tuns/brewing kettles are usually just an oil drum, which can either be rented or loaned, which typically gives 60 l of beer. One oil drum sells for 10,000 USH each and is usually too expensive to purchase on one’s own. For fuel, one survey showed that 25% of total wood consumed was solely for brewing beer. If a woman collects her own firewood, she can expect to double her initial investment (or more if she has her own crops).

Nutrition

Then there’s also the nutritional aspects of beer. Women who help during brew day are often paid with either beer for themselves, or the dregs (leftover grain) which can be made into a porridge or to make more beer. Typically, a full serving of beer is around 500 ml, and can be shared amongst children, or between a mother and infant. The majority of consumed beer turns out to be strained commercial beer, averaging at levels around roughly 230 ml per day. The dregs left over from brewing is also utilized, where approximately 60 - 70 % of it was consumed by children.

Although in modern Europe beer is not seen as a healthy drink, unfiltered beer is a good source of nutrition, particularly protein, and is only rivaled by milk. Households who had access to cattle showed the highest level of nutrition, followed by those who participated in beer retail, with the lowest level of nutrition from those who did not have cattle nor beer. This is attributed to how brewing provides a source of income to allow women to purchase ingredients for the household and the overall nutrients within beer (calories, iron, niacin, and protein) itself. There have been studies which attempted to evaluate nutrient levels in African beer, but they were only estimates based off of assumptions. So, in agreement with those previous studies, more research is required to understand the nutrition of the African diet fully. But suffice to say, beer provides much of the daily calories and has some nutrients equivalent to bread.

Gender

It is said ‘wives of men with or without cattle sell beer,' highlighting beer’s overall importance within African society. But I am unsure as to why brewing is a task solely for women, and I’d have to fall on the old adage that since brewing is seen as a job for the home, it thus falls into women’s responsibility.

There are times when men brew, for offerings for spirits, funerals, or - more rarely - for the market. It seems men engage in brewing activity when it does not interfere with the household, nor harbors any risk to themselves. One typical male drink is derived from bamboo sap, in which men have their own personal crop. Sap has no other uses for the household, nor does a man need to deplete financial resources to brew it, given its simplicity. Thus, men harbor no risk when engaging in brewing. So it seems the main reason men rarely brew is due to their access to female labor (wives, sisters, daughters) and can obtain beer without having to work for it. Plus, since men traditionally do not care for children (nor bear any), nor collect water or prepare food, they have greater access to income generating opportunities, so brewing might not be as appealing.

Risks

It might be counter-productive to promote beer consumption, considering the repercussions of alcoholism. But that is not my place to decide who should and shouldn’t drink or produce alcohol. Doing so assumes others are incapable of responsibility or overlook the hidden dangers. Naturally, this is not the case. There are plenty of cultural stigmas against drunkenness amongst African communities, as is the case in all societies who drink. At least in a time of political unrest, the dangers of raiding parties, and the stress of raising children, at least beer provides relief from the hardships of life.

Be that as it may, there is still a risk in selling beer. Most women do not brew themselves, but ‘book’ to resell it in towns. If a person leaves early in the morning to obtain the daily supply, only to find out that someone already reserved it, they won’t have any business that day. If however she is lucky and books beer for sale, she then has to deal with money. Most purchase beer through credit, forcing women to collect debts and thus preventing them from achieving the full monetary potential. In Uganda for example, a woman could earn up to 1000 USH (Ugandan Shillings), but most only get 500 to 600 USH. Even with 600 USH, however, she would be able to purchase 200 USH maize, 100 USH tomatoes, 100 USH cooking oil, and another 200 USH on beer. But if the same woman only receives 200 USH in a day, she’ll need 100 for beer to continue working, leaving her no money for food. To complicate this further, these beers sour quickly, imposing the pressure to sell it as fast as possible.

Of course, this only works when there is a good harvest. More financially stable households are capable of forgoing beer sales when crops are poor, relying on other sources such as livestock or tobacco. Yet lower income families are forced to sell beer in hopes to earn enough to purchase food later on.

And then there are the social risks. As stated before, there are cultural traditions one has to adhere too, whether for funeral ceremonies, coming-of-age, or other seasonal rituals. The Karamoja elders, for example, are traditionally given preferential treatment for ritual brews, but this now comes at the risk of losing profits. Rejecting the elders for profit could have real implications for a woman’s social stature, one she can use to gain help from the community. So much so, giving females their financial independence is viewed as an assault on traditional patriarchal families and drives some men to violence against these rural brewers.

Despite all of this, these women still choose to brew. They face plenty of challenges, like unequal access to information, education, agricultural support, markets, and lack of capital for investments. Plus, land rights are granted to men, either through marriage or inheritance. So supporting women in agriculture and brewing is a strategy which would drastically improve their livelihood. Given their essential role in agricultural growth, empowering women leads to economic development. They would be given more autonomy in their lives, increased household food supply, better health outcomes for their children and decreased overall vulnerability to outside influences (drought, illness, etc.) and sexually transmitted diseases.

Little has been done however to support women in the brewing industry nor do foreign aid recognize its importance. This lack of attention means there are no development intervention programs, business training, or small credit programs. There at least have been efforts to improve wood consumption with the Dutch TNO and Woodburning Stove group in the 80s, but that has since ceased.

This dismissal, it seems, is due to a lack of research and holding onto prohibitionist era ideologies. The pervasiveness of Islam and Christianity and adherence to nineteenth-century teetotalism permeates the belief that alcohol is a societal disorder, and should only be given attention when it is to prevent alcohol’s influence. But this situation is not black and white. True that beer is not entirely beneficial for children, the profits women obtain from beer sales, however, is enough for mothers to purchase better food supplies.

As stated by McCoy et. al., “Better integration of supportive systems for women - from agricultural education to family planning - as well as joint, multi-sectoral approaches from health and agriculture, would better address the complexities of achieving safe and sustainable livelihoods...income earning potential as brewing may protect women’s (limited) autonomy over earned income and help to reduce the ubiquitous availability of alcohol.”

Such initiatives sound great to me, but as far as I know, they don’t exist.

References

Bennett, J. M., T. Sixteenth, C. Journal, N. Summer, and S. C. Journal. 2014. Ale , Beer , and Brewsters in England : Women ’ s Work in a Changing World , 1300-1600 by Review. Sixt. Century J. 31: 8–9.

Carlson, R. G. 1990. Banana beer, Reciprocity, and Ancestor Propitiation among the Haya of Bukoba, Tanzania. Source Ethnol. 29: 297–311.

Clausen, T., I. Rossow, N. Naidoo, and P. Kowal. 2009. Diverse alcohol drinking patterns in 20 African countries. Addiction. doi:10.1111/j.1360-0443.2009.02559.x

Dancause, K. N., H. A. Akol, and S. J. Gray. 2010. Beer is the cattle of women: Sorghum beer commercialization and dietary intake of agropastoral families in Karamoja, Uganda. Soc. Sci. Med. doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2009.12.008

Dietler, M. 2006. Alcohol: Anthropological/ Archaeological Perspectives. Annu. Rev. Anthr. 35: 229–49. doi:10.1146/annurev.anthro.35.081705.123120

Green, M. 1999. Trading on inequality: gender and the drinks trade in southern Tanzania. Africa Maia Green Africa 69: 404–425. doi:10.2307/1161215

Holtzman, J. 2001. The Food of Elders, the “Ration” of Women: Brewing, Gender, and Domestic Processes among the Samburu of Northern Kenya. Am. Anthropol. 103: 1041–1058. doi:10.1525/aa.2001.103.4.1041

Jennings, J., K. L. Antrobus, S. J. Atencio, E. Glavich, R. Johnson, G. Loffler, and C. Luu. 2005. “ Drinking Beer in a Blissful Mood ” Alcohol Production, Operational Chains, and Feasting in the Ancient World. Curr. Anthropol. 46: 275–303. doi:10.1086/427119

Kubo, R. 2014. Production of indigenous alcoholic beverages in a rural village of Tanzania. J. Inst. Brew. doi:10.1002/jib.127

Mccall, M. 1996. Rural brewing, exclusion, and development policy-making. Gend. Dev. 4: 29–38.

Platt, B. S. 2016. Some Traditional Alcoholic Beverages and their Importance in Indigenous African Communities. Quart. J. Stud. AZc. Nutr. Rev. Lancet Voeding Brit. med.J. i Arch. NeuroZ. Psychiat. Chicago Lancet 14: 257–287. doi:10.1079/PNS19550026

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Mbege

10/19/2016

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Banana beer from Africa

Beer is not confined to malted barley, hops and water as the reinheitsgebot would have you believe. Nor should it be limited to locally sourced barley and wheat and whatever the brewer found at the farmers market. If you define beer as any fermented beverage whose sugars are derived from cereals, it leaves room for much more experimentation.

The easiest place for inspiration is our collective past. In Africa alone, it is said to have hundreds of beer styles. Plus, these indigenous alcoholic beverages account for 80% of consumption in rural Africa. However, these traditions are difficult to study given the negative influence of colonialism, no written record before European involvement, and the importation of foreign brands. Plus, the details that do exist remain unclear.

Despite this, one tradition I find fascinating is the use of bananas in brewing.

Mbege Beer

Enter mbege, a banana beer brewed by the Chaga (Chagga, Wachaga) people in Tanzania. The Chaga tribe are within the Bantu-speaking group and the third largest ethnic group in Tanzania. Traditionally, they live on the southern and eastern slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro where the environment is highly suitable for agriculture. Although best known for Arabica coffee, the Chaga’s main crop is the banana which they use for cooking, brewing, and fruit.

Mbege Production

Production is divided into three steps: Nyalu preparation, Mso preparation, followed by the mixing step.

Nyalu Preparation

Nyalu refers to fermented banana juice, which serves as the primary source for fermentative organisms. In the Chaga tribe, this is done by cooking a 1:1 ratio of ripened bananas to water. This mixture is then cooked over high temperature until the liquid turns red and no more clumps remain. This is then filtered and left to ferment (via open fermentation) for 9 - 12 days, depending on the season.

Prior to fermentation, some brewers add powdered bark (called Msesewe) to the liquid. This bark, derived from the Rauvolfia caffra tree, provides a level of bitterness and aids in fermentation. In previous studies, it was seen that tannins from Mangrove tree bark serve as a protective agent against microbial infection, except for yeast.

Nyalu

It is said that Nyalu produced with msesewe will finish fermenting within five days, due to the protective effects of the bark. I wouldn’t be surprised if it also served as an inoculant, given that some yeasts thrive on trees.

The Chaga method of banana juice production seems to be one of the few that cook bananas to extract liquid. Other methods of banana juice production are to mash ripe bananas in a trough, removing the liquid through sieves of grass or banana leaves. For example, the Haya (a now disbanded kingdom in Tanzania) usually press bananas to extract liquid. It is unclear which method of juice extraction is best. It is entirely possible, though, that one method provides a different flavor than the other.

Mso Preparation

Once the Nyalu is close to finishing, the mso is prepared. Mso is simply an unfermented wort derived from malted finger millet. This is done by heating water and adding a small fraction of ground millet. Once it reaches temperature, roughly half of the liquid is removed and set aside. Then, the rest of the malted millet is added to the mix.

This is then cooked for 25 minutes. The amylase present in millet is operative between 50 - 70 C (after which it denatures). To control temperature and thickness of the mash, the extracted liquid is added back to the mixture. If normal water was used, it would drop the temperature too low, thus stopping the mashing process. Plus, using the liquid Mso extract serves as a way to thin the mash in case it gets too thick. After the mash, the liquid is then moved to separate containers to cool.

Mixing

Once cood, nyalu and mso are mixed in a barrel. The resultant liquid is called togwa and left to ferment. Even after 6 hours, alcohol levels will rise to around 2.5%, but if left to ferment for two days, alcohol levels should reach roughly 4% abv. It is assumed that nyalu serves as the primary source for yeast, given that it is the only liquid left to ferment separately.

The main fermentative organisms responsible were found to be Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Lactobacillus plantarum.

Mbege

Mbege beer recipe

In a previous study, the following amounts were reported:

70l Water (35l reserved for Nyalu, 35l reserved for malted finger millet)
35l of Ripened Banana
20l of malted finger millet

Therefore, water to banana juice is 1:1, and for water to malt is roughly 1:3. If you were to attempt brewing mbege, then keeping these ratios should result in a solid recreation of the brew.

Determining the amount of bananas required to produce adequate levels of juice have so far gone unreported. Further complicating this issue is the amount of banana cultivars present in Tanzania. In a previous study, a total of 18 varieties were reported, yet the total number is well over 100, with some names being synonyms and homonyms. Not much is known how nomenclature is derived, thus causing one of the biggest problems in classifying banana varieties. Plus in Tanzania, the farming of bananas is largely for local consumption, and so are bred to meet local tastes. Thus, choosing the right kind of banana to replicate this drink proves difficult. It is not as simple as just choosing cooking bananas, which are less sweet. Even more discouraging (but cool at the same time), there are banana cultivars specified for brewing. So locating the right type of banana may be impossible.

Plus finger millet might be hard to come by, despite the advent of gluten-free beer. Yet I imagine it would be easier to acquire than the right kind of banana.

Traditional Chaga hut

Difficulties in studying mbege

Keep a dose of healthy skepticism when reviewing articles on mbege production. There is not much out there in regards to academic publishing. When there is, citing is somewhat scarce. For example, most just claim that the Chaga people are the founders of mbege, yet do not link it to other banana-based beverages. Given the diversity of tradition among tribes, mbege production might vary between groups within Tanzania, so observations of brewing might be tribe-specific. Plus, it is unclear whether the Chaga learned to make mbege on their own, or was taught to them by neighboring groups.

European influences also have to be taken into account. In the early 1900s, British officials, scientists, missionaries, and settlers collectively condemned finger millet. They attempted to convince Chaga farmers of millet’s immorality, lack of market value, among others. At first, this advice was ignored, but by the 1980s, millet was only found sporadically. This, coupled with the fact that the written record for the Chaga people doesn’t begin until roughly 1850 skews historical accuracy. Still, this is a general overview of the practice and should be a decent representation of the tradition.

Conclusions

I find one of the more inspirational takeaways is the banana juice as the source for inoculation, and finger millet as the source of simple sugars. With styles that have multiple sources of sugars, it would be interesting to experiment with a mbege-like fermentation profile (i.e. ferment one, use the other as sugars and vice versa). One such example would be the braggot, a barley-honey brew. Most braggot recipes I have come across state to mix both the barley wort and honey then ferment. It would be interesting to ferment the mead first, then add wort to see if that influences flavor.

It is necessary to record methods of production of mbege and indigenous beverages on the whole, due to the anthropological role they play. IAB’s are accepted forms of payment for labor, are a source of income for women and provide an excellent source of nutrition. Thus, it is imperative to record their production techniques to preserve its place within humans material culture.

References

Carlson, R. G. 1990. Banana beer, Reciprocity, and Ancestor Propitiation among the Haya of Bukoba, Tanzania. Source Ethnol. 29: 297–311.

Kubo, R. 2014. Production of indigenous alcoholic beverages in a rural village of Tanzania. J. Inst. Brew. doi:10.1002/jib.127

Kubo, R., and M. Kilasara. 2016. Brewing Technique of Mbege, a Banana Beer Produced in
Northeastern Tanzania. Beverages 2: 21. doi:10.3390/beverages2030021

Mwesigye, P. K., and T. O. Okurut. 1995. A Survey of the Production and Consumption of Traditional Alcoholic Beverages in Uganda. Process Biochem. doi:10.1016/0032-9592(94)00033-6

Platt, B. S. 2016. Some Traditional Alcoholic Beverages and their Importance in Indigenous African Communities. Quart. J. Stud. AZc. Nutr. Rev. Lancet Voeding Brit. med.J. i Arch. NeuroZ. Psychiat. Chicago Lancet 14: 257–287. doi:10.1079/PNS19550026

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Jordan Rex

Beer archaeologist

From California, migrated to the UK to study, drank in Berlin, now settled in Switzerland

@timelytipple
instagram.com/timelytipple/
Untappd: Tikiwartooth

The Rice Beers of the Mishing People

Rice

Brewing Methods

Assam

Mishing Tribe

Nogin Apong

Poro Apong

Compounds

Conclusions

References

Brewing in Africa

Trials and Tribulations of African Women

The Situation

Logistics of selling beer

Nutrition

Gender

Risks

References

Mbege

Banana beer from Africa

Mbege Beer

Mbege Production

Mbege beer recipe

Difficulties in studying mbege

Conclusions

References

Jordan Rex

Archives

Categories

The Rice Beers of the Mishing People

Rice​

Brewing Methods

Assam

Mishing Tribe​

Nogin Apong

Poro Apong​

Compounds​

Conclusions

References

Brewing in Africa

Trials and Tribulations of African Women​

The Situation

Logistics of selling beer

Nutrition

Gender

Risks

References

Mbege

Banana beer from Africa

Mbege Beer

Mbege Production

Mbege beer recipe

Difficulties in studying mbege

Conclusions

References

Jordan Rex

Archives

Categories

Rice

Mishing Tribe

Poro Apong

Compounds

Trials and Tribulations of African Women