Pombe

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Man drinking pombe in front of the house of the Dutch cultural anthropologist Hendrik Ulbo Eric Thoden van Velzen in Tanzania, 1967

As pombe ( Swahili ) is referred to beer in East Africa, traditionally by fermenting cereal or bananas are prepared with the addition of grain and water. In Uganda , Kenya , Tanzania , Rwanda and Burundi , pombe is either a reddish, cloudy, sweet-tasting and alcohol-containing drink made from bananas with the addition of various types of millet (e.g. sorghum ) or it is a thick, almost mushy drink from different types of millet.

from history

One of the earliest descriptions of Pombe by a European explorer of Africa can be found in Richard Francis Burton , who, together with John Hanning Speke, was the first European to come across Lake Tanganyika in 1858 . First, Burton described the production of millet, half the amount of which is sprouted in water until all of the millet is ground and boiled with water with a little honey. After three days of fermentation, Burton found the result to be acetic acid, but was still able to describe the physical symptoms after consuming larger amounts. Due to its thick consistency, this pombe was also used as food and is still popular with the Sukuma today . A cross between a refreshing drink and food pulp is also in Ethiopia from teff produced Tella , as is in Sudan traditional millet beer Merisa .

Burton used the term Mawa to describe the more expensive banana beer. The manufacturing method has not changed since then.

Millet beer

Illustration of a pomegranate drinker in the natural history reflections The uncivilized races of men in all countries of the world ... by John George Wood, 1877.

In 1890 Reichskommissar Wissman reported from the German protected area in East Africa that Pombe was refreshing and healthy and was valued by his troops. He gives the alcohol content with 2.4 percent. From the pombe he sent to Germany it was possible for the first time in 1893 to obtain a pure form of fission yeast in the laboratory . It was named Schizosaccharomyces pombe after its origin . When it arrived in Germany in 1890, the pombe was described as "sour ... spoiled and not particularly pleasant". At this point, however, the drink had been on the road for five weeks; the normal storage time is a few days.

The Kenyan pombe made from sorghum has 2 percent less alcohol than the Dolo in Burkina Faso (3.5 to a maximum of 6 percent) or South African sorghum (3.2 percent). The production of millet beer is an important additional income for women in rural regions. The drink is sold in bars through middlemen or offered in markets. In addition, Pombe plays a role in the neighborhood swap business, for example in return for helping with roofing. The pombe mixture is made in 200 liter oil drums and must be kept hot for about eight hours. Corn is used instead of millet in some regions according to the same procedure. Selling pombe is worthwhile for the women even if the millet is bought and the firewood is collected.

Banana beer

In the regions where bananas are grown, a distinction is made between several types of bananas and classified according to their intended use as follows: plantains (around half of the perennials), small, thin-skinned dessert bananas for direct consumption and large, thick -skinned bananas for brewing beer, which make up a quarter to a third of the population; for the Buhaya region, the lowest figures are a third. In Buganda , beer bananas are called Mbide . There are considered the fourth distinction still Röstbananen ( Gonja ) that are traditionally roasted by men with special social status and eaten with meat.

To make banana pombe, called Mbege in northern Tanzania , ripe bananas are first peeled. In Rwanda the bananas are crushed by hand by women, in other countries mostly in wooden troughs by men stamping them with their feet. Three parts of bananas are mixed with one part of water and with solid green grass of the genus Agrostis as an addition. After that, the liquid is sifted into a clean saucepan; the grass is used for clarification. Roasted and ground millet is added to improve the color and taste. Fermentation takes 18 to 24 hours. Since, in contrast to the production of millet beer, there is no heating, there are enough yeasts for fermentation.

In all of the countries mentioned there is the method of harvesting green bananas and covering them in a hole in the ground for four to six days. In Burundi, the pit is burned out beforehand to prevent rot and lined with banana leaves; the perennials placed in it are covered with more leaves. In Uganda and Rwanda, the bananas are placed on hot ashes or a fire is lit in a circle on the edge.

The marketing of banana beer made in the country, even if bananas are bought in, is a business for women. The production of the high- proof gongo in northwestern Tanzania, which is obtained from banana beer by distilling it once or twice, is actually illegal, but delivery to cities is worthwhile.

Societies whose economic system is traditionally based on the cultivation of bananas due to sufficient rainfall also consume banana beer as food, just like the millet drink elsewhere. These include areas west and north of Lake Victoria , that is Buhaya in Tanzania and the ancient kingdoms in Uganda. It is customary here for the groom's father to present a bride price in the form of pombe, bananas, rice and money.

Two slightly different drinks made from bananas and sorghum in Kenya are called Urwage and Lubisi . The selection and mixture of the banana varieties used determines whether the taste is neutral or more spicy.

In Rwanda, Pombe plays a role as Urgwawa after the genocide as a means of redress in disputes in the traditional village courts, the gacaca ; it serves there as a symbolic satisfaction payment.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Richard Francis Burton: The Lake Regions of Central Africa. A picture of exploration. London 1859. Chapter 14: Village Life in East Africa. P. 366f. Text online (PDF; 31.2 MB)
  2. ↑ Paul Lindner : Schizosaccharomyces Pombe n. Sp., A new fermentation pathogen. In: Wochenschrift für Brauerei, Vol. 10, 1893, pp. 1298-1300.
  3. ↑ Michael McCall: Rural Brewing, Exclusion, and Development Policy-Making. In: Gender and Development, Vol. 4, No. 3, October 1996, pp. 29-38, here footnote 1 on p. 37
  4. ↑ Hans Hecklau: East Africa. Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda. Scientific regional customers, Vol. 33.Darmstadt 1989
  5. ↑ FAO Document: Chapter 3. Yeast Fermentations. Describes the manufacture.
  6. ↑ There are non-traditional recipes for making banana beer in which the mash is heated and then sugar and yeast are added.
  7. ↑ Described for the island of Ukerewe in Lake Victoria in Aniceti Kitereza : Die Kinder der Regenmacher. An African family saga. Peter Hammer Verlag, Wuppertal 1991, p. 86ff.