Alcoholic Beverage From Bananas

Fermentation can be described as an enzyme-induced breakdown of complex organic compounds to simpler molecules. The simpler molecules produced are exemplified by few examples such as amino acids, Lactic acid, ethyl alcohol, carbon dioxide, hydrogen sulphide, methane and vinegar. These simple molecules constitute substances that have food or other fuels of commercial importance that could have significance in food security. Fermentation technology, the oldest form of biotechnology, is a discipline that can be improved, modified and optimised, for exploitation in synthesis of complex molecules such as antibiotics and single cell protein. Successful fermentation is based on the skills of Microbiologists, Biochemists, Geneticists, Chemical Engineers, Chemists and Control Engineers. (Stevan, et al 1987)

Exploiting fermentation at household level:

The process of fermentation occurs naturally at ambient temperatures, and has been exploited crudely in making countless varieties of alcoholic beverages. This same process however has been used very skillfully to achieve detoxification of otherwise inedible foods like cassava, fortification (increasing nutritional value) of some starchy foods, in enhancing food preservation and imparting flavour and aroma to some foods. (Kimario MV et al 2000 and Motarjemi Y & Nout MJ 1966) The preparation of alcoholic beverages is done at household level in many African communities, and the banana fruit has widespread use in the production of beverages, but the most notable is the alcoholic beverage brewed by the Chagga people in Kilimanjaro region in Tanzania, known as 'mbege'.

The preparation of 'mbege':

The ingredients of this famous Chagga alcoholic drink 'mbege' are as follows:

1. Ripe Banana - the main substrate
2. Finger millet - ('mbege') catalyst, nutrient and flavour
3. 'Msesewe' - Extract from a bark of quinine tree (Rauvolfia Caffra) that adds bitter, acquired flavour and tends to slow fermentation
4. Water - for boiling the mixture

The ingredient proportions are roughly one part of banana to three parts of water. The 'mbege' is added as one part to 12 parts of the brew while one part of the 'msesewe' is added to 40 parts of the brew.

(Picture: 'Mbege' in plastic barrels is ready to drink) Bananas are harvested and placed over the fireplace or in the ceiling of traditional Chagga huts where the temperature is high enough to speed the ripening. When they are ripe, usually after 5-7 days, the fruits are peeled and boiled in water until the mixture turns reddish brown. The level of browning is based on the person's preference with regard to the final product. After boiling, the mixture is allowed to cool before transferring to a plastic, earthen pot, or wooden container, where it is incubated for 4-5 days. The mash is mixed with more water and filtered through a bed of savannah grass and ferns on a bed of broad banana leaves mounted on a slopping trough. The filtrate is left for some hours prior to the inoculation with malted millet ('mbege') flour, hence its name 'mbege'. The Finger millet is sorted, and then soaked in water overnight, drained, incubated at room temperature until germination occurs, followed by sun drying (picture: malted millet being dried on an animal skin could be contaminated and may be detrimental to the quality of the brew) then ground to make coarse flour by using a grinding stone. (This stage of millet malt preparation is completed before the ripening of bananas.) The flour is mixed with water and simmered just below boiling temperature to form a porridge that will be inoculated to the already prepared banana juice. 'Msesewe' from the bark of a matured tree, which is bitter in taste, it is washed, cut into small peaces, boiled and filtered, The filtrate is added to the banana juice 12 hours prior to drinking. Sometimes the bark is ground to flour and mixed with banana during boiling. From start to finish the preparation of 'mbege' can take 7-10 days.

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