A review of traditional fermented foods and beverages of Zimbabwe

Microbial and Chemical Diversity of Traditional Non-Cereal Based Alcoholic Beverages of Sub-Saharan Africa

“…When back-slopping is used, the previous fermentis usually dominated by fermentative microorganisms, which solves to some extent the problem of variability of the product [5,9]. This is the most common practice at household level, in the production of many traditional alcoholic beverages.…”

“…Methanol and its metabolites such as formaldehyde and formic acid, are produced during microbial fermentation of alcoholic beverages like kachasu of Zimbabwe [37] and pose health challenges due to their toxicity effects [115]. The toxicity of kachasu due to the presence of isoamyl alcohol, iso-butanol, acetone, methanol, ethylacetate, and furfurals has led to the prohibition of kachasu in Zimbabwe since 1971 [5]. Methanol toxicity in distillates has also been reported in kanyanga (although a cereal-based distillate) of Burundi [116].…”

“…Kachasu has been reported to be similar to waragi of Uganda and chang'aa of Kenya [5,127]. It is usually brewed using maize meal but bulrush or finger millet meal, various fruits such as masau (Ziziphusmauritiana), Adansoniadigitata, Tamarindusindica [37,133] and banana peels may be used as alternative sources of carbohydrates [5].…”

“…Several cereal-based alcoholic beverages in the Sub-Saharan region have been well documented [5][6][7][8]. The fermentative microbes and chemical profiles of the resulting alcoholic beverages are well known.…”

“…These include; chikokivana, a spirit produced from a mixture of maize meal, and millet malt popular in Zimbabwe [9], togwa of Tanzania, produced from sorghum, maize, and millet [10,11], burukutu, and pito-both popular indigenous alcoholic beverages of Nigeria produced from sorghum The mass production of non-cereal-based alcoholic beverages of Sub-Saharan Africa relies on uncontrolled spontaneous fermentation and exploits inexpensive substrates that are available in the locality, viz. palm tree fruits (Arecaceae family) and exudates, sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum), banana pulp (Musa acuminata), watermelons (Citrullus lanatus), Hyphaene petersiana (mokolwane/moxao) ( Figure 1), marula fruit (Sclerocaryabirrea) (Figure 2), Grewia flava (mogwana) (Figure 3), Grewia occidentalis (moretlwa), Grewia flavascens (mokgomphatha), Popowiaobovata, Balanites aegyptiaca, Berchemia discolor, Ziziphus mauritiana (masau), Kedrostis hirtella (mogakangwaga), Khadia acutipetala, cassava (Manihot esculenta), and honey [5,9,29,30]. Some of the beverages made from non-cereal substrate include muchema, palm wine, setopoti, bojalwa-ja-morula, khadi, mukumbi, urwagwa, pineapple wine, and tej.…”