In Experiment 1, the pounding was done by a woman under ordinary village 

 conditions where there is wastage at all stages. Grain spills over the edge of the 

 mortar during pounding; some of the grain is invariably scattered beyond the 

 confines of the mat during the many siftings ; fowls are continually hanging around 

 to get their share and to a lesser extent goats and dogs take a toll. Even in still 

 weather the loss is considerable, e.g., nearly 20 per cent., but is increased when 

 there is a high wind that blows the flour from the mat while it is drying. 



Experiments II and III were carried out on a smaller scale and were performed 

 carefully to avoid waste as far as possible. 



Although these results are only approximate, the figures in III are in fairly 

 close agreement with those given in more carefully conducted experiments carried 

 out in Tanganyika* under outdoor conditions with minimum of preventable loss, 

 hence it can be assumed that the results of Experiment I give a fair approximation 

 for pounding under ordinary village conditions. 



The Milling of Maize. 

 There are several mills in the country of the pulverizer type which produce a 

 fine meal which includes the whole of the bran: thus there are no milling losses. 

 Commonly, however, for the feeding of labour and the inmates of such institutions 

 as hospitals, schools and prisons, a small handmill of the Colonist type is used. 

 Provided that the plates are fairly new and the grain is put through three times, 

 a fairly fine meal results. Even so on inspection it will be found that much of the 

 bran is still in relatively large fiakes. If a handmill is used, it is recommended that 

 the meal be sifted. It was found that after sifting 10 lb. of meal, 1 J lb. (15 per cent.), 

 was coarse bran and 2 J lbs. (22 per cent.) consisted of coarse meal, mitama. The 

 mitama can either be remilled to flour or used to make gruel, phala. 



Flour From Green Maize, citibu (C). 

 In times of shortage of food, flour is prepared from the fresh grain. If the 

 grain is still soft, it is cut from the cob with a knife, given a preliminary pounding, 

 dried in the sun for a few hours and then pounded to flour. When the grain is 

 drying out, it is known as ciwazo, it is poimded to remove the bran and the rest 

 of the grain pounded to flour after drying in the sun. The bran is soft so is not 

 thrown away but mixed again with the flour for porridge. 



Methods of Cooking Maize 

 (a) To make porridge, nsima. 



The pot, usually earthenware in villages and metal in towns, is half filled with 

 water and put on the fire. Two or three handfuls of fiour are mixed with cold 

 water to a smooth paste and when the water is boiling, the mixture is poured in 

 and well stirred to form a thin gruel, phala. It is left to boil for 5-10 minutes. 

 A gourdful of the gruel is then taken out and flour added rapidly, a handful at a time, 

 with repeated stirring by means of a wooden stick. The mixture is by this time 

 very stiff. After a further five minutes, the gourdful of gruel previously removed 

 is poured back with further stirring and beating. More flour is added until the 

 consistency is judged to be correct. Some tribes, e.g., the aNgoni, like their porridge 

 a good deal softer than others. The product is always sufficiently hard for it to be 

 possible to break off lumps cleanly from the main mass. The total time of cooking 

 from the adding of the first handful of flour until the removal of the pot from the 

 fire is 15-20 minutes. 



Sometimes the gourdful of gruel is not removed and fiour merely added until 

 the right consistency is reached. In either method the final stirring often takes 

 place after the pot has been taken from the fire. The pot is propped firmly between 



*"TAe preparation of Maize flour in Tanganyika Territory. " R. R. Scott, South African 

 Medical Journal, June 9th 1943. 



130 



