Palm Wine: Africa’s Iconic Alcoholic Beverage
If there is no Palm wine, I no dey go.
Palm wine is an incredibly special thing. Ranging in taste from sweet to sour. Found in almost every country where palm trees are indigenous. Especially Africa, north to south, east to west. It has been produced and perfected for countless generation and holds great social, cultural and, some believed to have medicinal value. In Africa, it goes by as many names as there are countries and languages.
How palm wine is made
Around Africa, the cultivation, harvest, and production may vary slightly, but the basics remain the same. The traditional method, still in use today, is sustainable and ecological since the juice from a living tree is sweeter than that from a felled tree. Leaving palms to grow and flourish. We tap many different varieties of the Palm tree but our favourites in Africa are normally the date palm or palmyra, for their lovely flavour.
Tapping requires that the tapper climbs the palm tree using a rope or “ete”. Some trees can grow up to 30m, that more than a five-story building. So, tapping is not for the faint-of- heart! Once tapped the juice is strained and poured into open clay containers. Then we leave it to ferment and produce the wine. The taste and strength of the wine will change depending on where it is in the ageing and fermentation process.
Palm wine traditions
In most countries, palm wine is drunk during ceremonies. It takes centre stage in many traditional activities and daily life. Palm wine is something that we drink to celebrate births and weddings and deaths, but we also drink it to honour our ancestors, poured on the ground as an offering to our elders.
In Nigeria, the Igbo people have a beautiful wedding tradition involving palm wine. First, the prospective fiancé will have to go to the house of the girl’s father where he gives the gift of high-quality wine. The girl’s father will literally not open the front door till he can see the wine. The girl herself is offered a cup of this wine. When she accepts and drinks it, she says yes. In Nigeria and other parts of Africa, the engagement is then announced at a big party for everyone in the village. The tradition is that the girl, with a cup of wine, ‘searches’ the crowd for her Mr Right. When she finds him and he drinks the wine, the engagement is public. And of course, we will drink lots of palm wine at the wedding, generally the traditional drink of choice. Medicinal palm wine is infused with herbs to alleviate a variety of physical ailments.
In Cameroon, the centre of social life is the palm wine kiosk, a lively gathering place and akin to European tea rooms of old. In Sierra Leone, the much-enjoyed merengue is called palm wine music.
Wine is of so much social and anthropological importance that it often makes its way into the literature. See, for example, the excellent “The palm wine Drinkard” by Amos Tutuola from Nigeria.
Where I am from, we call it ubusulu
What do you call Palm wine in your country?
Sources:
https://www.theafricangourmet.com/2017/07/what-is-palm-wine.html
