6fi 



Banana Wine. 



The preparation of a palatable drink sometimes called " wine " and 

 sometimes "beer" or "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 following : — 



" The fermented juice of the banana is made at Cayenne and the 

 Antilles into a palatable wine called ' Vino di banana.' A similar 

 liquor is prepared in the Congo region, where it has the reputation of 

 being a preventative of malaria." 



One of the earliest accounts of the preparation of banana or plantain 

 wine is given by Ligon in his History of Barbados (1657), p. 32 : — 



" But the drinke of the plantine is farre beyond all these ; gathering 

 them full ripe 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., p. 316) gives a somewhat 

 similar account of banana wine in Jamaica : — 



" When they make drink with them they take 1 or 12 ripe plantains 

 and mash 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 a ad cool, and is very 

 pleasant." 



One sort of plantain is mentioned by Speke as yielding in Central 

 Africa " a wine resembling hock in flavour." 



On the other hand Schweinf urth found that " any fermented drink 

 made from plantain to be almost unknown among the Monbuttos." 



Mr. H. H. Johnson, C.B., in the neighbourhood of Kilima-njaro, 

 speaks of Mandara's soldiers during an engagement quenching their 

 thirst " with liberal 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, adds : — 



" Nelson treated us to some pom be (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 ; quite as sour in taste and smell. 

 If boiled down on the third day it makes a good syrup." 



In Polynesia the banana drink made there is apparently not fermented 

 but consists of fresh pulp made with bananas diluted with the milk of 

 the cocoa-nut or water. 



