Banana wine brings sweet taste of success to Malawi farmers

A small-scale farmer in northern Malawi, Emily Nkha­na used to discard over-ripe bananas or just let them rot, but she has now found a profitable use for them – banana wine.

Extreme heat was causing bananas to ripen too quickly, resulting in heavy losses for Ms Nkhana and many other farmers who live in Karonga district.

“Then we discovered how to make banana wine,” she tells the BBC, as she peels lemons that would be used to preserve the taste of bananas at the processing plant of Twitule Cooperative Group.

For the farmers, it is not just about making wine – but also survival, resil­ience, and embracing the new possibili­ties that come with a changing climate.

They used to farm next to the shores of Lake Malawi and their banana plantations were being washed away by rising water levels due to increased rainfall, forcing them to move to higher but hotter grounds, where temperatures soar to 42C.

“Down at the old farm, our challenge was loads of water from the lake. Some of the bananas used to drown in water. Some, you couldn’t even see where we planted.

“Up here, we have way too much heat. It makes our bananas ripen very fast and go to waste,” Ms Nkhana says.

She is part of a group of wom­en who have come together at the cooperative to improve their economic conditions through farming.

Wine production is a small-scale ven­ture in the women’s backyards, where they plant banana crops.

The wine-making process happens in a small compound with a four-roomed house in the village of Mchenjere.

The process is simple: the overripe bananas are peeled, cut into small pieces, weighed, and mixed with sugar, yeast, raisins, water and covered with lemons.

The mixture is then left to ferment for several weeks, transforming the banana pulp into a potent, aromatic wine, containing 13% alcohol – similar to wine made from grapes.

“It’s very good quality wine. You have to drink it while seated so you can enjoy the sweet flavour,” Ms Nkhana says.

Banana wine might sound unusual to those accustomed to the flavours of traditional wine, but for those who have tasted it, the experience is anything but disappointing.

The wine, which can range in colour from pale yellow to a rich amber, has a slightly sweet, fruity taste, often accom­panied by a subtle aroma and a light lemon and banana flavour. —BBC

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