Maize is the staple food of the bulk of the Africans in the country. There is 

 little doubt that as far as Nyasaland goes maize is a relatively recent staple food, 

 because Lacerda in the 1790's refers to maize as does Livingstone some 60 years 

 later but both give the staple crops as being the millets, such as fingermillet and 

 the sorghums. 



There is little difference from tribe to tribe in the methods of preparation. 



The Preparation of Maize Flour. 



The process takes place in the following stages : — 



(a) The grain is stripped from the cob by twisting against a second cob. 

 Any badly weevilled grain is removed. 



(6) The bran is removed in the first heavy pounding, knkonola. 



(c) The grain is soaked in hot water for several days, kuhviika. 



{d) The softened grain is pounded to flour, kutihula. 



(e) The flour is spread on a mat to dry. 



The First Pounding, kukonola. 



About 30 lbs. of grain (three mortarfuls) is pounded at a time. This produces 

 enough flour to last an average household four or five days. The first pounding is 

 very hard work and takes about six hours for one woman to do alone. 



A small amount of grain is tipped into the mortar and some liquid, either water 

 or preferably the sour rather slimy liquid, cisunje, matsukwa, left from the soaking 

 of the previous batch of maize is added. When the bran has started to come aAvay 

 from the grain, the mortar is filled and the pounding begun in earnest. When it is 

 judged to be ready, the contents are tipped into a flat sifting basket, licero, and the 

 bran shaken off on a mat. The grain is then carefully picked over by hand and 

 any grains with bran still attached are separated to be repounded, kuphwanya. 

 Sometimes at this stage whole grains, which have had the bran removed, are picked 

 out and are boiled in this form as ntakula, cingowe or mixed with beans as cingowe. 

 The grain is now given a short final pounding, kupunthila, to remove any fragments 

 of bran and is then ready for soaking. It is now called mphale. A fraction, mitama 

 ya mphale, consisting of small broken bits of grain may now be separated and boiled 

 as a separate dish. 



Soaking of the Grain. 



About two gallons of water are heated in a large earthenware pot almost to 

 boiling point. It is taken off the fire and the pounded grain, mphale, tipped in. 

 the pot is covered over usually with another pot and left for at least two days. If 

 flour is needed in a great hurry, the maize can be pounded after only one day's 

 soaking but the product is hard and not well liked. Usually grain is taken out on 

 the third day, sufficient for the day's needs, and on each successive day until the 

 pot is empty. Usually enough is soaked to last four or five days. The longer the 

 soaking period, the softer the grain and the easier to pound. As soaking proceeds, 

 various changes caused by micro-organisms occur in the maize, and there is a strong 

 smell of fermentation and the maize itself tastes sour unless the water is changed 

 every day or two. One of the tests of a good housewife is whether or not she 

 washes the mphale pot well so that the flour does not taste sour. 



Second Pounding, kutihula. 



Some soaked grain is taken from the pot, washed well in at least three changes 

 of water until the grain is clean. It is then tipped into the mortar and pounded, 

 kusinja. From time to time, the contents of the mortar are tipped into a basket 

 and the flour sifted, kusefa or kusela, through fine wire sieves or winnowed off. The 

 grain is then repounded until all that remains is a small amount of hard fragments 



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