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Soft drinks from Uganda

Ekitiribita (unmalted obushera)ekitiribita

Ekitiribita is the unmalted member of the Ugandan obushera drinks. Unmalted millet flour and water are left to ferment naturally, with no malt added. Without malt sugars and enzymes it sours slowly, reaching only about pH 4.4 after four days.

Fully documentedSoft drinks4 days

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceAbout 1.5 kg of unmalted millet flour per 20 L batch (Mukisa et al. 2012, AJFAND, Table 1).
Unmalted millet flourAbout 1.5 kg per 20 L batchMixed with water[mukisa2012aj]
WaterMade up to a 20 L batch[mukisa2012aj]
Starterspontaneous

Total time across the recorded steps: 4 days

Start
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What changes: Unmalted millet flour is stirred into water

Step 1 of 3
Mix unmalted millet flour with water
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Bacillus

Output: flour and water mix.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

Not documented for this step.

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

At a glance

Ekitiribita is the unmalted member of the Ugandan obushera drinks. Unmalted millet flour and water are left to ferment naturally, with no malt added. Without malt sugars and enzymes it sours slowly, reaching only about pH 4.4 after four days. Made in 3 steps over 4 days. The longest step, ferment slowly, takes 4 days (Mukisa I.M 2012).

Key numbers
Main step4 daysReported[mukisa2012aj]Ferment slowly
AciditypH 6 → 4.42Measured[mukisa2012aj]Ferment slowly

What makes this one different

Ekitiribita has no malt, so it lacks malt sugars and the enzymes that break down starch. It sours slowly to about pH 4.4 in four days, where malted obutoko and obuteire reach pH 3.5–4.0 in one to two days.

Related ferments

Safety

Do not use this page as a recipe for feeding a baby. Mukisa et al. (2012, AJFAND), the study that describes the drink, call it rather unsatisfactory and unsafe for infant feeding. It sours slowly, reaches only about pH 4.4 where pH 3.5–4.0 is wanted to hold back pathogens, and is not heated before drinking, so it can pass on harmful microbes, especially if made unhygienically. It is also too thin to give a weaning child enough nutrients and energy. Slow acidification leaves the drink above pH 4.5 for longer than malted obushera; in the Mbarara survey ekitiribita had the highest median total viable count of the obushera types sold.

History and sources

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

Mukisa et al. (2012) describe ekitiribita as one of four distinct types of obushera and note that, although obushera production was becoming commercialised in urban areas, the process was still largely an unoptimised artisanal craft that relied on chance fermentation.

  1. [mukisa2012aj] Mukisa I.M., Muyanja C.M.B.K., Byaruhanga Y.B., Langsrud T., Narvhus J.A. 2012, Changes in physico-chemical properties and flavour compounds during fermentation of different obushera (sorghum and millet) beverages, African Journal of Food, Agriculture, Nutrition and Development 12(6):6665–6683 (Tables 1–3)paper
  2. [mukisa2012] Mukisa I.M., Porcellato D., Byaruhanga Y.B., Muyanja C.M., Rudi K., Langsrud T., Narvhus J.A. 2012, The dominant microbial community associated with fermentation of Obushera (sorghum and millet beverages) determined by culture-dependent and culture-independent methods, International Journal of Food Microbiology 160:1–10 (abstract)paper
  3. [kiprotich2022] Kiprotich A., Wangalwa R., Atwebembeire J., Kagoro-Rugunda G. 2022, Microbial contamination and antimicrobial susceptibility pattern of bacterial isolates from sorghum and millet derived local beverage (Obushera) consumed in Mbarara City, Uganda, Research Square preprint, not peer reviewed (abstract, via Europe PMC)other
  4. [s2] Wikipedia, Obushera (outline only)wiki