Banana Wine and Beer?

We stopped at a market on the roadside on the way from Volcanoes National Park to Kigali. Inside a tuck shop, Vince saw a sign for "grape wine." Why specify the fruit you ask? Because Rwandans also make and drink banana wine ... and banana beer.

Banana wine is made commercially by fermenting peeled, mashed, ripe bananas. Water (to dilute the rather thick banana mash), wine yeast and sugar are added to the "banana mash."








Banana beer - or urwagwa - is the local Bantu beer and it is made all over Rwanda. To make banana beer you first dig a hole, line it with dried banana leaves which are then set on fire. Lay fresh banana leaves on top of them, and then unripe bananas. Cover with more fresh banana leaves and some sorghum on top for some yeast action and voila! Urwagwa.













Vince tried some (of course!) He later tried to buy some at the duty free shop at the Kigali airport to bring back to Joburg as a souvenir but we couldn't find any for sale. We should have stocked up at the tuck shop!