CHAPTER 63
INTOXICATING DRINKS
Long ago the well-known intoxicating drink in Busoga was known as ‘Malwa’, made from millet, but as people gradually refrained from using ‘millet as their food, it died out and so the malwa also disappeared.
Millet died out after the introduction or discovery of banana into the country. There was a kind of banana known as ‘Mbidde’ which, when ripe, could be made into beer by pressing out the juice either by the hands or feet, depending upon the quantity. The juice is mixed with water to the required taste, after which flour, which has been ground out of millet, is added to it in the right proportion. It is all put into a pot and left in a place warm enough to heat it, and the result is beer. The place is chosen on a certain small anthill where the pot is placed after laying under it some grass on which the juice was pressed and produced. Then the pot is covered with banana leaves and the above—mentioned grass so that air may not pass. The pot remains thus for 18 to 24 hours after which it is opened and the beer tasted. If it is not quite ready, it is re-covered and left for 26 to 28 hours, when it is usually found to be ready and tasting like beer, and it is then called ‘Omwenge’ beer.
Formerly, the beer was not made only in pots but was also prepared in banana leaves as well as in wooden vessels made in the shape of a canoe; but nowadays it is prepared only in pots.
The malwa beer which is made out of millet is prepared in the following manner:— The millet is ground into flour which is mixed with water and poured into a pot. It is then placed near a fireplace or into a pit which has been dug, remaining there for 7 to 14 days after being covered with soil. Then the pot is taken out and the mixture fried and spread in the sun to dry thoroughly so that it becomes stiff. The next step is to take another quantity of millet, this time unground, and mix it with water then store it in clean banana leaves or in a pot where it stays for 4 to 6 days, after which it is taken out, when it has already germinated and has roots. This is also spread in the sun to wither and then it is ground into flour. Now there are two kinds of flour — the first kind which was fried and stiffened in the sun, known as ‘Malwa’, and the second kind which was simply soaked in water and fried after germination, known as ‘Bumeri’, meaning ‘which has germinated’.
Then the malwa is put into a pot containing some water and stirred in order to dissolve, after which bumeri is also added. Then the pot with the mixture is put behind the fire-place where it is warm enough to heat it, so that it will be ready after two days. After the two days the drink is intoxicating and is ready to be served, when it is known as malwa, prepared out of millet.
In conclusion it must be remembered that the malwa and the ‘Omwenge’ (that which is made out of ‘mbidde bananas) are the only intoxicating drinks of Busoga, although the malwa type at first used to be drunk by chiefs only in private. However, these days it is a drink for everybody and anyone who wants to prepare either of the two types is at liberty to do so.