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Banana WINE. 
The p of a; palatable drink sometimes called ** wine " and 
sometimes * bee cider" from bananas appears to have existed 
from remote times, The practice is known in Central Africa, in the 
West Indies, and in the islands of Polynesia. The remark that is 
usually made on the subject is the ais ing :— 
“The fermented juice of the ana is made at Cayenne and the 
Antilles into a palatable wine called * Vino di banana.” A similar 
liquor is prepared in the ra region, where it has the reputation of 
being a preventative of malaria 
One of the earliest accounts ‘of the preparation of banana or Pee 
wine is given by Ligon in his History of Barbados (1657), p. 32:— 
* But the drinke of the plantine is farre beyond all deme, pect ing 
them full p and in the height of their sweetnesse we pill off the skin 
and mash them in water well boyl'd and after we have let them stay 
there a night, we straine it and bottle it up, and in a week drink it; 
and it is very strong and pleasant drinke, but it is to be drunk sparingly 
for it is much stronger than Sack, and is apt to mount up into the 
head.” 
A few years later Dampier (Voyages, I, sb 316) gives a somewhat 
sianar account of banana wine in Jama 
* When they make drink with them e take 10 or 12 iam plantains 
and mash them well in a trough; then thev put two gallons of water 
among them ; and this in two hours time will ferment uen froth like 
. In four hours it is fit to drink ; and then they bottle it, and 
oe it as they have occasion ; but this will not keep above 24 or 30 
Those , therefore, that use this drink, brew it in this manner 
' first went to Jamaica I could relish no 
other ao they had there. It drinks brisk and cool, and is very 
pleasan eg 
One de of plantain is aaa by Speke as yielding in Central 
Africa “a wine resembling hock in fla 
On the other m Schweinfurth found that “ any ueniet drink 
made from plantain to be almost unknown among the Mon 
Mr. H. H. Johns son, C.B., he the neighbourhood of Kilian. njaro, 
peaks of Mandara's soldiers during an engagement quenching their 
thirst ** with ial ‘draughts of banana beer which the women were 
constantly brewing. 
Mr. Stanley ( (Darkest Africa, ii., p. 239) remarks that at Awamba :— 
“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.’ 
Finally Dr. Parke in his Personal Experiences, p. 332, ad 
* Nelson treated us to some pombé (banana wine) dar. it was 
pans very good, although made from bananas which were not at a 
This beverage is prepared by cutting two or three bunches of ripe 
DNARS into pieces of half an inch in len ngth, 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 oo or five days 
becomes very acid. In a day or two more it changes to a fluid mie 
qualities very like those of vinegar; quite as sour in ‘taste and sme 
If boiled down on the third “r it makes a good syrup." 
a the banana drink there is apparently not fermented 
but consists of fresh pulp made with bananas diluted with the milk of 
the cocoa-nut or water. 
