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Fermentation Atlas

Soy and legumes from Northern Ghana, Northern Nigeria

Dawadawa (African locust bean, Ghana/Northern Nigeria)dawadawa

dark, pungent umami seasoning balls for soups and stews. Made in 5 steps over 4.7 days. The longest step, ferment in covered basket, takes 4 days (Boateng M. et al. Nutritional and microbial p…) and runs at 25–50 °C (Opai-Tetteh S. 1999). Bacillus subtilis and B. licheniformis do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step4 daysReported[Boateng2014]Ferment in covered basket
Temperature25–50 °CMeasured[OpaiTetteh1999]Ferment in covered basket
AciditypH 7 → 8.1Measured[OpaiTetteh1999]Ferment in covered basket

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedWhat goes in. No source gives amounts for this ferment.
seeds of African locust bean
néré (Parkia biglobosa); also P. filicoidea
Starter: spontaneous (millet flour sometimes added; old-batch material reported)

Total time across the recorded steps: 4.7 days

Start
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What changes: Locust-bean seeds boil about 12 hours until the hard coats loosen

Step 1 of 5
First boil (whole seeds)
Time
12 h
Reported
Temperature
100
Unconfirmed
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Bacillus proteolysis

A pilot-plant account seen only in a search summary gives up to 24 h. Nigerian dawadawa is cooked about 12 h [Zannou2018]. Output: softened seeds.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
hard testa loosens
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

killed

Method

Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source

Variants

  • Soy dawadawa (soy-daddawa)soybeans replace scarce Parkia seeds [Akanni2018, FR-soumbala]
  • Bambara groundnut dawadawaVigna subterranea seeds; B. cereus 35 %, B. licheniformis 30 %, B. pumilus 21 %, B. subtilis 10 % in isolates; starter strains give distinct volatiles (B. subtilis: dimethyl disulfide, methanethiol; B. cereus: 2,5-dimethylpyrazine) [Akanni2018]

Safety

B. cereus present in some products [Akanni2018]; biogenic amines reported (soumbala study).

Hazards the sources name: B. cereus.

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

Long-standing West African condiment; names across Manding, Hausa, Pulaar, Yoruba, Wolof, Krio, Zarma, Dagbanli, Mooré [WP-Dawadawa].

  1. [Boateng2014] Boateng M. et al. Nutritional and microbial profiles of raw and processed African locust bean seeds. Livestock Res Rural Dev 2014;26(10)paper
  2. [Akanni2018] Akanni GB et al. Diversity and functionality of Bacillus species associated with alkaline fermentation of bambara groundnut into dawadawa-type condiment. Univ. Pretoria repository, 2018paper
  3. [WP-Dawadawa] English Wikipedia, Dawadawawiki
  4. [s4] Parkouda C et al. The microbiology of alkaline-fermentation of indigenous seeds used as food condiments in Africa and Asia. Crit Rev Microbiol 2009 doi:10.1080/10408410902793056 (cited, not read)paper
  5. [OpaiTetteh1999] Opai-Tetteh S. 1999, The microbial activities involved in the alkaline fermentation of soybeans into dawadawa, MPhil thesis, University of Ghana / Food Research Institute (citing Odunfa 1983)paper
  6. [Zannou2018] Zannou O., Chabi I.B., Koca I. 2018, Some traditional fermented food from African locust beans (Parkia biglobosa): production and volatile compounds, GSJ 6(9)paper