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Fermentation Atlas

Alcoholic drinks from Southern and western Ethiopia

Borde (Ethiopian maize/cereal sour beer)borde

Borde is a thick, fizzy, grey cereal drink from southern and western Ethiopia, low in alcohol and often taken as a meal. Soured maize grits are split three ways, into a roasted bread, steamed balls and a porridge, and each part is fermented with barley malt in turn. The mash is filtered and drunk within about 12 hours. Made in 7 steps over 2.8 days – 3 days. The longest step, sour the maize grits in water, takes 44 h – 2 days (Fentie E.G 2020). Heterofermentative lactic acid bacteria (79.4 % of isolates), mainly Weissella confusa, Lactobacillus viridescens, Levilactobacillus brevis and Pediococcus pentosaceus and Yeasts, mostly Saccharomyces, rising sharply after 12 h do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step44 h – 2 daysReported[fentie2020]Sour the maize grits in water
AciditypH 3.5–4.1Measured[fentie2020][tadesse2017]Filter and serve
Fully documentedAlcoholic drinks2.8 days – 3 daysMore alcoholic drinksMore from Ethiopia

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedHousehold process with no fixed amounts. The sources give only the split of the soured grits, about 40 % for bread, 40 % for steamed balls and 20 % for porridge.
Maize grits · Soured in water first; wheat, finger millet or sorghum can stand in[fentie2020]
Barley malt flour · Germinated as for tella malt, then ground[fentie2020]
Fresh maize flour · For the steamed balls and the porridge[fentie2020]
Water[fentie2020]
Starter: spontaneous

Total time across the recorded steps: 2.8 days – 3 days

Start
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shapes, not to countLactic acid bacteriaWeissella confusaL. viridescensLevilactobacillus brevis

What changes: Barley sprouts into malt, which is dried and ground

Step 1 of 7
Malt the barley and grind it
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactic acid bacteria
Weissella confusa
L. viridescens
Levilactobacillus brevis

Output: barley malt flour.

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

What makes this one different

Borde is brewed from soured maize grits that are split three ways and cooked three different ways, as a roasted bread, steamed balls and a boiled porridge, each added to the malt mash in turn. It is drunk within hours of filtering, while tella keeps for 5 to 7 days at room temperature.

Related ferments

Safety

Borde becomes unfit to drink after about 12 hours at room temperature. In a challenge study, E. coli O157:H7, S. aureus, Shigella flexneri and Salmonella added at the start of fermentation fell below detection within 24 hours, and coliforms in a natural brew were not detected after 4 hours.

Hazards the sources name: Escherichia coli O157:H7, Staphylococcus aureus, Shigella flexneri and Salmonella, added in a challenge study; all fell below detection within 24 h of fermentation.

History and sources

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

  1. [fentie2020] Fentie E.G., Emire S.A., Demsash H.D., Dadi D.W., Shin J.H. 2020, Cereal- and fruit-based Ethiopian traditional fermented alcoholic beverages, Foods 9(12):1781 (borde section and Table 3)paper
  2. [bacha1998] Bacha K., Mehari T., Ashenafi M. 1998, The microbial dynamics of 'borde' fermentation, a traditional Ethiopian fermented beverage, SINET Ethiopian Journal of Science 21(2):195–205 (abstract)paper
  3. [tadesse2017] Tadesse S., Chandravanshi B.S., Ele E., Zewge F. 2017, Ethanol, methanol, acid content and other quality parameters of Ethiopian traditional fermented, distilled and factory produced alcoholic beverages, SINET Ethiopian Journal of Science 40(1):16–35paper