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Alcoholic Beverage From Bananas - Page 2

© Josephine T Kimario**

The benefits:

The preparation of 'mbege' is hard and labour intensive but the socio-economic benefits dictate the need: (Picture: Using a traditional drinking container made from calabash, a group of relatives and friends are sharing a drink of 'mbege')

• Encourage social gatherings
• Adopted in traditional courts as fines for the guilty party
• Used in celebrations like weddings
• Required in solemn occasions like funerals
• Private business transactions are best conducted with 'mbege' on the table
• Household income can be improved by selling 'mbege'
• An alcoholic drink with nutritive qualities from the unfiltered malt and yeast

Drawbacks:

• The young can access the alcoholic drink
• Excessive use of bananas for alcoholic drink could be detrimental to food security
• Some individuals develop alcohol dependence
• The colloidal nature of 'mbege' with suspended matter has not stimulated widespread appeal compared to clear beverages like wines or beers

The future:

The future of banana beverages like 'mbege' will depend on a number of improvements:

• Standardization quantitatively of all processes, microorganisms species and ingredients
• Standardization in quality of all ingredients from production to usage
• Standardization of the end product qualities, like colour, aroma, clarity and packaging.
• Possible shift from batch processing at home to a continuous semi-automated process that may lead to production industrially
• Prolongation of the shelf life of 'mbege'.

Conclusion:

Currently 'mbege' is affordable and as it is drunk unfiltered there are nutritional benefits. There is scope for this local brew to attain a national commercial status in the future when successful improvements have been achieved.

REFERENCES:

**Josephine T Kimario is a final year Food Science student at Sokoine University of Agriculture in Tanzania. The article is based on excerpts of the final year project 2004.

1-Stevan M.D, Bottery S, Goulding K.H, Stanburry P (1987) Biotechnology. The Biological Principles: Tata McGrawn Hill Publishing Company Limited. New Delhi.

2-Kimaryo MV, Massawe GA, Olasupo NA, Holzapfel WH The use of a starter culture in the fermentation of cassava for the production of 'kivunde', a traditional Tanzanian food product Int J Food Microbiol 2000 Jun 56 179-190

3-Motarjemi Y, Nout MJ. Food Fermentation: A safety and nutritional assessment. Joint FAO/WHO Workshop on Assessment of Fermentation as a Household Technology for improving food safety. Bull World Health Org 1966 74:553-559

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