Mageu (

Setswana Tswana, also known by its native name Setswana, is a Bantu language indigenous to Southern Africa and spoken by about 8.2 million people. It is closely related to the Northern Sotho and Southern Sotho languages, as well as the Kgalaga ...

spelling), Mahewu (

Shona Shona often refers to: * Shona people, a Southern African people ** Shona language, a Bantu language spoken by Shona people today ** Shona languages, a wider group of languages defined in the early 20th century ** Kingdom of Zimbabwe, a Shona stat ...

Chewa Chewa may refer to: *the Chewa people *the Chewa language Chewa ( ; also known as Nyanja ) is a Bantu languages, Bantu language spoken in Malawi and a recognised minority in Zambia and Mozambique. The noun class prefix ''chi-'' is used for lang ...

/ Nyanja spelling), Mahleu (

Sesotho Sotho (), also known as ''Sesotho'' (), Southern Sotho, or ''Sesotho sa Borwa'' is a Southern Bantu languages, Southern Bantu language spoken in Lesotho as its national language and South Africa where it is an official language. Like all Ba ...

spelling), Magau (xau-Namibia) (

Khoikhoi Khoikhoi (Help:IPA/English, /ˈkɔɪkɔɪ/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''KOY-koy'') (or Khoekhoe in Namibian orthography) are the traditionally Nomad, nomadic pastoralist Indigenous peoples, indigenous population of South Africa. They ...

spelling), Madleke (

Tsonga Tsonga may refer to: * Tsonga language, a Bantu language spoken in southern Africa * Tsonga people, a large group of people living mainly in southern Mozambique and South Africa. * Jo-Wilfried Tsonga Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (; born 17 April 1985) ...

spelling), Mabundu (

Tshivenda Venḓa or Tshivenḓa is a Bantu language and an official language of South Africa and Zimbabwe. It is mainly spoken by the Venda people (or Vhavenḓa) in the northern part of South Africa's Limpopo province, as well as by some Lemba peop ...

spelling), maHewu, amaRhewu (

Xhosa Xhosa may refer to: * Xhosa people, a nation, and ethnic group, who live in south-central and southeasterly region of South Africa * Xhosa language, one of the 11 official languages of South Africa, principally spoken by the Xhosa people See als ...

spelling) or amaHewu ( Zulu and Northern Ndebele spelling) is a traditional

Southern African Southern Africa is the southernmost region of Africa. No definition is agreed upon, but some groupings include the United Nations geoscheme, the intergovernmental Southern African Development Community, and the physical geography definition b ...

non-alcoholic drink An alcohol-free or non-alcoholic drink, also known as a temperance drink, is a version of an alcoholic drink made without Alcohol (drug), alcohol, or with the alcohol removed or reduced to almost zero. These may take the form of a non-alcoholic mi ...

among many of the Chewa/Nyanja, Shona, Ndebele, Nama Khoikhoi and

Damara people The Damara, plural Damaran (Khoekhoegowab: ǂNūkhoen, ''Black people'', , referring to their extended stay in hilly and mountainous sites, also called at various times the Daman or the Damaqua) are an ethnic group who make up 8.5% of Namibia ...

Sotho people The Sotho (), also known as the Basotho (), are a Sotho-Tswana peoples, Sotho-Tswana ethnic group indigenous to Southern Africa. They primarily inhabit the regions of Lesotho, South Africa, Botswana and Namibia. The ancestors of the Sotho peo ...

Tswana people The Batswana (, singular ''Motswana'') are a Bantu peoples, Bantu Ethnic groups in South Africa, ethnic group native to Southern Africa that are descendants of King Looe (Lowe) who established the Hurutshi tribe in Southern Africa (linguistic ...

and

Nguni people The Nguni people are an ethnolinguistic group of Bantu peoples, Bantu ethnic groups native to Southern Africa where they form the single largest ethnolinguistic community. Predecessors of Nguni people migrated from Central Africa into Southern A ...

made from

fermented Fermentation is a type of anaerobic metabolism which harnesses the redox potential of the reactants to make adenosine triphosphate (ATP) and organic end products. Organic compound, Organic molecules, such as glucose or other sugars, are Catabo ...

mealie pap. Home production is still widely practised, but the drink is also available at many supermarkets, being produced at factories. Its taste is derived predominantly from the

lactic acid Lactic acid is an organic acid. It has the molecular formula C3H6O3. It is white in the solid state and it is miscible with water. When in the dissolved state, it forms a colorless solution. Production includes both artificial synthesis as wel ...

that is produced during

fermentation Fermentation is a type of anaerobic metabolism which harnesses the redox potential of the reactants to make adenosine triphosphate (ATP) and organic end products. Organic molecules, such as glucose or other sugars, are catabolized and reduce ...

, but commercial mageu is often flavoured and sweetened, much in the way commercially available

yogurt Yogurt (; , from , ; also spelled yoghurt, yogourt or yoghourt) is a food produced by bacterial Fermentation (food), fermentation of milk. Fermentation of sugars in the milk by these bacteria produces lactic acid, which acts on milk protein to ...

is. Similar beverages are also made in other parts of Africa.

Fermentation process

Thin mealie pap (maize meal) is prepared, to which wheat flour is added, providing the

inoculum In biology, inoculum (: inocula) refers to the source material used for inoculation. ''Inoculum'' may refer to: * In medicine, material that is the source of the inoculation in a vaccine * In microbiology, propagules: cells, tissue, or viruses that ...

of lactate-producing bacteria. The mixture is left to ferment, typically in a warm area.

Pasteurisation In food processing, pasteurization ( also pasteurisation) is a process of food preservation in which packaged foods (e.g., milk and fruit juices) are treated with mild heat, usually to less than , to eliminate pathogens and extend shelf life ...

is done in commercial operations to extend

shelf-life Shelf life is the length of time that a commodity may be stored without becoming unfit for use, consumption, or sale. In other words, it might refer to whether a commodity should no longer be on a pantry shelf (unfit for use), or no longer on a s ...

Nutrition

Nutritionally, it is similar to its parent mealie meal, but with the glucose metabolized to lactate during fermentation. Commercial preparations are often enriched (In South Africa, the term 'fortification' is only allowed legally for specific, government-sanctioned nutrition programs, e.g. that of bread) with

vitamin Vitamins are Organic compound, organic molecules (or a set of closely related molecules called vitamer, vitamers) that are essential to an organism in small quantities for proper metabolism, metabolic function. Nutrient#Essential nutrients, ...

s and

minerals In geology and mineralogy, a mineral or mineral species is, broadly speaking, a solid substance with a fairly well-defined chemical composition and a specific crystal structure that occurs naturally in pure form.John P. Rafferty, ed. (2011): M ...

. Although typically considered non-alcoholic, very small amounts (less than 1%) of

ethanol Ethanol (also called ethyl alcohol, grain alcohol, drinking alcohol, or simply alcohol) is an organic compound with the chemical formula . It is an Alcohol (chemistry), alcohol, with its formula also written as , or EtOH, where Et is the ps ...

have been reported.

References

* Steinkraus, Keith H
"Industrialization of indigenous fermented foods"
Google books. Accessed May 2010. South African cuisine Namibian cuisine Botswana cuisine Zimbabwean cuisine Mozambican cuisine Zambian cuisine Malawian cuisine Fermented drinks Maize-based drinks {{SouthAfrica-cuisine-stub

Fermentation process

Nutrition

See also

References