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Soft drinks from Zimbabwe

Tobwa (Zimbabwean leftover-sadza sour drink)tobwa

Tobwa is one of Zimbabwe's non-alcoholic cereal drinks, listed with mahewu and mangisi. A review table lists it as made without malt, with lactic acid bacteria only.

A short entry: the sources we found record only what is said here about Tobwa itself. Its own sources do not record how it is made, so the steps and scenes below are those of Mahewu / mageu / amahewu, the closest documented soft drinks ferment, shown as a guide to the method, not as a record of Tobwa.

Short entrySoft drinks

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedNo source read gives amounts.
Leftover sadza (stiff maize porridge)
Water

Total time across the steps of Mahewu / mageu / amahewu: 4 days – 4.1 days

Start
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shapes, not to countLactic acid bacteriaLactobacillus plantarumL. brevisL. fermentum40 °C

What changes: Sorghum grain sprouts, is dried and milled into the malt flour

Step 1 of 4 · steps of Mahewu / mageu / amahewu
Malt the sorghum for the inoculum
Time
3 days
Reported
Temperature
40 °C
Reported
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactic acid bacteria
Lactobacillus plantarum
L. brevis
L. fermentum

Only for the sorghum-malt version; the FAO home recipe uses wheat flour instead. Output: malted sorghum flour.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

Not documented for this step.

Method

Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source

At a glance

Tobwa is one of Zimbabwe's non-alcoholic cereal drinks, listed with mahewu and mangisi. A review table lists it as made without malt, with lactic acid bacteria only. Lactic acid bacteria only does most of the fermenting.

What makes this one different

Tobwa is listed as made without malt, with lactic acid bacteria only; mangisi is made from malted finger millet.

Related ferments

Variants

  • Thobwa (Malawi, Zambia)A different, malted drink; see `thobwa`.

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

  1. [gadaga1999] Gadaga T.H., Mutukumira A.N., Narvhus J.A., Feresu S.B. 1999, A review of traditional fermented foods and beverages of Zimbabwe, International Journal of Food Microbiology 53:1–11 (abstract; lists tobwa with mahewu and mangisi as non-alcoholic cereal drinks)paper
  2. [ignat2020] Ignat M.V. et al. 2020, Current functionality and potential improvements of non-alcoholic fermented cereal beverages, Foods 9:1031 (review; tobwa "without malt, only LAB")paper