which are hard to pound. Thoy are known as misere (N) and when boiled form one 

 of the principle snacks of the pounders and any children who happen to be nearby. 

 The second pounding gets progressively easier as the grain softens. To pound the 

 soaked grain from 30 lbs. of maize takes about seven hours usually spread over 

 four or five days. 



In the Mzimba and Karonga Districts, there are slight differences in the prepara- 

 tion of flour. The bran is removed as before but the grain is then soaked in cold 

 water instead of hot and left for a longer period, up to a week. Then the grain is 

 usually pounded to flour all on one day instead of on successive days. 



Mixed Flours. 

 Where there is an alternative staple food grown, it is common practice to use a 

 mixture of flours for porridge, nsima. Thus in the Mzimba and Karonga Districts, 

 cassava flour is mixed with maize flour in proportions of about one in three. In 

 the Kota Kota foothills cassava or kafiir corn, {mapira,) flour are mixed with maize 

 flour and in times of hunger, finger millet will also be used in this way. 



The Bran, Madea 



A heap of bran is collected on the mat on the day of the first pounding. If 

 there is a famine, all the bran is kept. If food is very plentiful, all is thrown to 

 the fowls. Usually, however, a fraction consisting of large flakes of tough bran, 

 mankhupete, is winnowed off and thrown to the fowls. The remainder, consisting 

 of fine flakes of bran together with considerable amount of the germ and broken 

 grain, is kept. The aCewa women and probably those of other tribes, winnow off a 

 fraction containing most of the germ, mdzoole. This they boil and eat as a separate 

 dish. Whether this fraction is separated or not, the rest of the fine bran is spread 

 in the sun, very thoroughly dried and stored in a pot. Often the bran is kept over- 

 night before drying, it then ferments slightly, kusasa, and has a better taste and 

 is also said to make ' harder porridge " than if dried on the day of pounding. After 

 drying, the bran is further pounded and sifted to form a fine meal. In this form 

 it is used to mix with flour in proportions varying from one part bran to eight of 

 flour to as much as one part bran to one part flour in times of hunger. On the 

 average one part of bran is added to about two parts of flour. After pounding 

 and sifting of the bran, there remams a fraction, mitama ya madea, of small bits of 

 grain and particles of bran and germ. This mitama is usually soaked and pounded 

 to flour or may be cooked as a snack. 



Where maize is scarce, e.g., parts of the Mzimba and Ncheu Districts, beer is 

 made from bran instead of from flour. 



Yields of the Various Products of Maize. 

 Experiments were carried out during 1939 to determine the proportions of tl e 

 various fractions of the grain obtained as a result of pounding maize under village 

 conditions. The results are shewn in the Table below. 



Owing to the fact that water is added during the pounding, the water content 

 varies during the process. These weight changes have been allowed for in the 

 above results. 



129 



