Cultural liquor from Africa

CULTURAL LIQUOR FROM EAST AFRICA.

Historically while in Africa modern distillation took place post independence it is important to note that this by any ways it did not mean that there was no liquor in the communities in the continent.Actually  what is interesting to note is that liquor was there in different communities and was held in high regard.This is because it was the old folks that took to making this potent brews that where appreciated by the communities during different events that they took to.It is this community blenders that where able to maintain and ensure quality checks the youth where just sourced to collecting the ingredients.This art was pass down from father to son to the next generation.

Lets look at some traditional alcohol that i personally feel hold the communities in high regard but can also be used to highlight and be part of creating African cocktails.

MURATINA. 

 Muratina is an alcoholic drink named after the fruit of the same name. The fruit comes from a tree commonly called the “sausage tree” (Kigelia africana) due to the long, sausage-like fruits that it bears. The fruits hang down on string-like twigs that drop down from the tree branches. Individual fruits can grow to around 60cm in length and can weigh up to 7 kilograms.

The drink of muratina is made in the Central Province of Kenya.   To make the muratina wine, the fruits are cut into pieces and dried under the sun, after which they are boiled in water. After boiling they are removed from the water and sun dried again. They are then added to a small amount of sugar cane juice or honey and kept in a warm place. If there is no wood to sustain a continuous fire, the muratina can be left in the sun during the day. This process takes about 24 hours, after which the fruits are again removed and sun dried. After drying, the fruits are finally mixed with more sugarcane juice or honey based on the amount of the final drink required. This mixture is then left to ferment for between one and four days. The fruits increase the alcohol content, give flavor to the drink, and, most probably, inoculate the right kind of yeast for the fermentation. The final drink has a sour alcoholic taste and odor. It is traditionally drunk out of cow horns.  

What i love about the drink is the essential complex tart,smoky,with slightly sweet notes i would compare it to a mix of mead with beer feel.

Muratina due to its colour would be great to work with it in tiki drinks or aged spirit cocktails .It offers the much need feel and easy go my preference of it was my take on it with half part of it and half tequila or rum for your kenyan take of margarita or daiquiri.

I also took to freeze it to a cube and use it to generate depth in my cocktails.

TEJ (Ethiopian Honey wine)

 

Maybe you have heard of it or even sampled it and enjoyed it this beautiful liquor from Ethiopia which is mostly found in Ethiopian homes and restaurants offer more to the cocktail world and perhaps will be a step in the right direction when cocktail enthusiasts and bartenders start looking at it as a an inspiration to recreating cocktails.

 

Tej is mead or honey wine found in Ethiopia or Eriteria. In it s process it is often purposely flavored with the powdered leaves and twigs of gesho ( rhamnus prinoides ) which is a hops -like bittering agent that is a species of buck thorn commonly found in the region.

 

 

When it is been made they use the portions of a horn or cup of honey to 6 to 7 cups of water ratio 1:7.Mix is normally stirred and left for a day to which they remove the impurities and wax that floats on top.Roasting /charring of the gesho slightly to they drop it into the mix while hot and is left to ferment the mix the whole night.Fermentation rate depends so much where it occurs whereby usually in highlands it should be ready in 9 days while in the lowlands it is 5 days.

 

After fermentation it is filtered and mixed again with honey not only to retain sweetness but to maintain its aging as it continues to age and adding it prevents it from been too sour.the longer your ferment it the strong it becomes.

 

The traditional vessel for drinking tej is a rounded vase-shaped container called a berele, which looks like a Florence flask . Tej has a deceptively sweet taste that masks its high alcohol content, which varies greatly according to the length of fermentation. .Berz is a sweeter, less-alcoholic version of tej, and is aged for a shorter time. 

 

 

 

It is served chilled as that is the best way to take it .

look forward next time on cocktails around tej perhaps find inspiration.

Maybe you have heard of it or even sampled it and enjoyed it this beautiful liquor from Ethiopia which is mostly found in Ethiopian homes and restaurants offer more to the cocktail world and perhaps will be a step in the right direction when cocktail enthusiasts and bartenders start looking at it as a an inspiration to recreating cocktails.

 

Tej is mead or honey wine found in Ethiopia or Eriteria. In it s process it is often purposely flavored with the powdered leaves and twigs of gesho ( rhamnus prinoides ) which is a hops -like bittering agent that is a species of buck thorn commonly found in the region.

 

When it is been made they use the portions of a horn or cup of honey to 6 to 7 cups of water ratio 1:7.Mix is normally stirred and left for a day to which they remove the impurities and wax that floats on top.Roasting /charring of the gesho slightly to they drop it into the mix while hot and is left to ferment the mix the whole night.Fermentation rate depends so much where it occurs whereby usually in highlands it should be ready in 9 days while in the lowlands it is 5 days.

 

After fermentation it is filtered and mixed again with honey not only to retain sweetness but to maintain its aging as it continues to age and adding it prevents it from been too sour.the longer your ferment it the strong it becomes.

 

The traditional vessel for drinking tej is a rounded vase-shaped container called a berele, which looks like a Florence flask . Tej has a deceptively sweet taste that masks its high alcohol content, which varies greatly according to the length of fermentation. .Berz is a sweeter, less-alcoholic version of tej, and is aged for a shorter time. 

 

 

It is served chilled as that is the best way to take it .

Tej by far is my top most local liqour that i found a joy to take it neat,on the rocks or in a cocktail.This is because what makes it more interesting is that the type of honey used or collected and how the gesho acts to deepen the flavor and its nice long finish will have you drink more.Its alcohol percentage is 10%

The honey collected is a mixture of wild honey and the ground medicinal  honey that serves to ensure that the alcohol is not only easy to the mouth but it is medicine.

The avenue for it and its application should be something to watch as well.

 

By far this is just the beginning to discover cultural liquor however what would be great is to see you create cocktails around them.Both tej and muratina work well with rum,tequila and whisky as they complement the texture and feel as well as the complexity.