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Fermentation Atlas

Soft drinks from Northern Nigeria

Kunu-zakikunun zaki

sweet, mildly sour, spiced millet drink. Made in 4 steps over 8 h – 2 days. The longest step, steep dehulled millet, takes 8 h – 2 days (Haard N.F. et al. 1999). Lactobacillus plantarum and Weissella confusa do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step8 h – 2 daysReported[fao138-ch2]Steep dehulled millet
Temperature74 °CMeasured[oranusi2003]Partial gelatinisation (combine boiled slurry with cold-water slurry)
DocumentedSoft drinks8 h – 2 daysMore soft drinksMore from Nigeria

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedWhat goes in. No source gives amounts for this ferment.
millet (also sorghum or maize)
ginger
cloves
pepper
sweetener
Starter: spontaneous

Total time across the recorded steps: 8 h – 2 days

Start
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Close-up: water moving into a grainshapes, not to countLactic acid bacteriaYeasts

What changes: Millet soaks while lactic bacteria and yeasts grow

Step 1 of 4
Steep dehulled millet
Time
8 h – 2 days
Reported
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactic acid bacteria
Yeasts

Output: steeped grain.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

LAB and yeasts grow; this is where most fermentation happens

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

  • Kunun gyadawith groundnut
  • Kunun tsamiya, kunun aya (tiger nut)other kunu family drinks (aya is tiger nut, largely unfermented)

Safety

Keeps about 24 h at ambient temperature, or about 8 days after pasteurising (60 °C, 1 h) and refrigerating. Processing cut mycotoxins by 76–99.9 % in one study.

History and sources

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

  1. [fao138-ch2] Haard N.F. et al. 1999, Fermented cereals: a global perspective, FAO Agricultural Services Bulletin 138, ch. 2gov
  2. [efiuvwevwere1995] Efiuvwevwere B.J., Akona O. 1995, kunun-zaki fermentation, World Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology 11:491–493paper
  3. [oranusi2003] Oranusi S.U. et al. 2003, kunun-zaki processing study, Food Microbiology 20:127–132paper
  4. [ogunremi2022] Ogunremi O.R. et al. 2022, lactic acid bacteria of kunun-zaki, International Journal of Food Microbiology 366:109563paper
  5. [ezekiel2015] Ezekiel C.N. et al. 2015, mycotoxins in kunu-zaki processing, LWT 60:137–141paper