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Fermentation Atlas

Alcoholic drinks from Southwest Ethiopia

Cheka (Konso/Dirashe vegetable–cereal beer)

Made in 6 steps over 7.2 days – 11 days. The longest step, ferment cut cabbage/taro anaerobically, takes 4–6 days (Fentie E.G. et al. 2020).

Key numbers
Main step4–6 daysReported[fentie2020]Ferment cut cabbage/taro anaerobically
Temperature96 °CReported[fentie2020]Shape gafuma ball and cook
DocumentedAlcoholic drinks7.2 days – 11 daysMore alcoholic drinksMore from Ethiopia

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedWhat goes in. No source gives amounts for this ferment.
cabbage and/or taro
maize
sorghum/finger-millet malt
Starter: spontaneous

Total time across the recorded steps: 7.2 days – 11 days

Start
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StarchSugarAlcoholCO₂

What changes: Cut cabbage or taro sours without air

Step 1 of 6
Ferment cut cabbage/taro anaerobically
Time
4–6 days
Reported
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented

Output: fermented vegetables.

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

Safety

Methanol ranged from 163 to 2,380 ppm across cheka samples in one study, and long-fermented samples were much higher; one figure (271.55 ppm) understates the range.

History and sources

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

  1. [fentie2020] Fentie E.G. et al. 2020, Cereal- and fruit-based Ethiopian traditional fermented alcoholic beverages, Foods 9(12):1781paper
  2. [worku2018] Worku et al. 2018, cheka composition and safety study (methanol across samples), PMC6261204paper