and serves either as side-dish or an extra food. This is a particularly convenient 

 form of a sustaining food to take when going on a long journey. When needed a 

 little is mixed with hot water and is ready to eat as a side-dish. 



(4) The fresh nuts are boiled in their pods until soft. The kernels are then 

 eaten as an extra food, makata (N), cuwa (Nk). 



(5) A milky extract is made from the nuts by allowing water to percolate 

 slowly through a pounded mass of them held in a sieve. The liquid is passed through 

 several times and finally the nuts are given a thorough squeeze to extract as much 

 liquid as possible. The milky liquid, tuwe (Kota Kota) is added to a variety of 

 dishes such as boiled rice when the product is known as msere and is much liked. 



(6) The nuts are well pounded in a mortar several times until they form a fine 

 meal. The meal is then boiled with water for five to ten minutes and salt is added. 

 It has now the consistency of thick pea soup and is eaten as a side-dish with porridge. 

 In this form it is known as thendo (N), dowe (Tu,C), citukule (Y). 



(7) Pounded groundnuts are added to mashed sweet potatoes or bananas to 

 form a very popular food known as futali (Kiswahili). Bananas cooked with ground- 

 nuts are known as mbaraga by the Konde in Karonga. Pounded groundnuts added 

 to mashed bananas makes one of the several forms of mamboga, the dish used by 

 the Mohammedan Yaos in Fort Johnston to " break " their fast during the month 

 of Ramadan. A thin gruel of maize flour is usually drunk at the same time as 

 eating mamboga. 



(8) Where finger millet is common a gruel from its fine flour is made and then 

 pounded groundnuts are added. The product is known as bala la naawa and is a 

 popular sweet drink (Mzimba District). 



(9) In the Mzimba District, groundnuts and maize flour are pounded together 

 in a mortar, the mixture is then made into flat cakes which are boiled. They are 

 known as mikate. (See also Musa sapientum.) 



(10) Groundnut oil is much liked to add to many kinds of side-dish but it is 

 little used in the villages except where nuts are very plentiful. It is bought to a 

 considerable extent in towns. 



Some men own primitive presses to extract the oil but still much is prepared 

 by women. In the Southern Province, women crush the nuts in a mortar, not by 

 a direct stroke as when pounding maize, but by twisting the stick against the side 

 of the mortar. When sufficient oil has collected it is removed to a suitable container 

 with the aid of a feather. After extraction of the oil, the residues, known as cigonga 

 (N), are often used instead of whole groundnuts to add to side-dishes. In Karonga 

 District women pound the nuts and then leave them to dry for some hours. They 

 then squeeze the pounded mass on a stone and at the same time pour water, little 

 by little, over it. The oil drips into a cup held in a suitable position. The groundnut 

 cake is usually thrown to the fowls during times of plenty. 



(11) Where there is great scarcity of side-dishes the leaves are cooked (Dowa 

 foothills). They are tough and so need strong potashes to soften them, groundnuts 

 and tomatoes are added. 



Storage of the Nuts. (Native methods). 



Kota Kota District. The nuts are left exposed to the sun for one to three 

 months to reduce their moisture content and enabling closer storage, otherwise they 

 would go mouldy, either on a stand made specially for the purpose or in a large 

 basketwork frame placed on the top point of the hut roof. They are then stored 

 in a small bin about 3 ft. high which is well plastered with mud. 



Port Herald. They are stored on the top of the other grain on a stand in the 

 hut. The stand is so built that a fire can be kindled underneath it from time to time. 



Karonga District. (Misuku Hills). A basket is made about 3 ft. high of a 

 conical shape. It is plastered with a mixture of mud and cow-dung and an earthen- 



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