ALCOHOL FROM BANANAS 129 



sparingly for it is much stronger than Sack, and is apt to 

 mount up into the head." 



Dampier, in his " Voyages," tells how banana wine was 

 made in Jamaica : " When they make drink with them, 

 they take 10 or 12 ripe plantains and wash them well in a 

 trough ; then they put two gallons of water among them ; 

 and this in two hours' time will ferment and froth like 

 wort. In four hours it is fit to drink ; and then they 

 bottle it, and drink it as they have occasion ; but this will 

 not keep above 24 or 30 hours. Those, therefore, that 

 use this drink, brew it in this manner every morning. 

 When I first went to Jamaica, I could relish no other drink 

 they had there. It drinks brisk and cool, and is very 

 pleasant." 



Speke mentions that plantains in Central Africa yield 

 " a wine resembling hock in flavour." 



Stanley in "Darkest Africa" relates that "two large 

 troughs equal in size to small canoes were stationed 

 in the village, in which the natives pressed the ripe fruit 

 and manufactured their wine." 



Dr. Parke, in his " Personal Experiences," says : 

 " Nelson treated us to some pornbt (banana wine) to-day ; 

 it was really very good, although made from bananas 

 which were not at all ripe. This beverage is prepared by 

 cutting two or three bunches of ripe bananas into pieces 

 of half an inch in length, adding two gallons of water, and 

 leaving it to stand. On the third day it is really a delicious 

 drink. At first it has a sweet tart taste, which after four 

 or five days becomes very acid. In a day or two more it 

 changes to a fluid, having qualities very like those of 

 vinegar." 



Banana Spirit. The possibility of utilizing the banana 

 fruit in the production of alcohol has been more than once 

 under the consideration of the Academy of Sciences of 

 France, and the following information is taken from a paper 

 read before the Academy of M. B. Coren winder.* 



It had already been shown by Buignet that during 

 * " Comptes Rendus," vol. 88, 293, 1879. 



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