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Fermentation Atlas

Cereals and bread from Benin

Mutchayan (fermented cereal paste with baobab pulp)mutchayan

Mutchayan is a stiff cooked cereal paste, usually sorghum, mixed with a sour drink made from baobab fruit pulp and left covered for a day or more. Lactic bacteria and yeasts grow in it, but the baobab pulp has already made it acidic, so the pH stays near 4.2. It is thinned with water into a drink or eaten as a main dish with sauce. Made in 5 steps over 8 days. The longest step, thin into a drink or serve as a main dish, takes 7 days (Chadare F.J 2010). Lactic acid bacteria and Yeasts do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step7 daysReported[chadare2010]Thin into a drink or serve as a main dish
Temperature100 °CTypicalMill the cereal and cook a stiff paste
AciditypH 4.2Measured[chadare2010]Ferment, loosely covered
Fully documentedCereals and bread8 daysMore cereals and breadMore from Benin

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceThe ratio recorded from village processors in the Natitingou region; other cereals are used the same way.
450 gCooked sorghum paste · Flour boiled with water into a porridge, then thickened with more flour[chadare2010]
450 mLBaobab pulp drink · Made from about 110 g of baobab pulp in water[chadare2010]
Starterspontaneous

Total time across the recorded steps: 8 days

Start
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pH 2.9–3.3

What changes: Baobab fruit pulp is soaked or stirred into water to make a sour drink

Step 1 of 5
Make the baobab pulp drink
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
pH 2.9–3.3
Reported
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Moulds
Lactic acid bacteria
Yeasts

The whole contents of a baobab fruit can be soaked in water instead of diluting separated pulp. Output: sour baobab pulp drink.

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

Mutchayan is made like other fermented cereal doughs of Benin, such as mawè, gowé and ogi, but it is the only one enriched with baobab pulp drink. The pulp makes it acidic, about pH 4.2, before fermentation begins, so a day of fermentation changes it only mildly.

Acidity
pH 4.2 before and after fermentation, set by the baobab pulp
Vitamin C
About 300 g of mutchayan gives 10.7 to 11.3 mg of vitamin C, all from the baobab pulp

Related ferments

Variants

  • Maize or millet mutchayanMaize or millet flour in place of sorghum; the studied form used sorghum.

Safety

The baobab pulp makes the mix acidic, about pH 4.2, from the start, and it keeps about a week in its vessel. The studied village batches were made under uncontrolled hygiene.

History and sources

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

Mutchayan was first described scientifically in 2010, one of 35 baobab foods recorded in Benin. Fresh baobab pulp is available from January to May, which is when mutchayan is plentiful.

  1. [chadare2010] Chadare F.J., Gayet D.P., Azokpota P., Nout M.J.R., Linnemann A.R., Hounhouigan J.D., van Boekel M.A.J.S. 2010, Three traditional fermented baobab foods from Benin, Mutchayan, Dikouanyouri and Tayohounta, preparation, properties and consumption, Ecology of Food and Nutrition 49(4):279–297, doi:10.1080/03670244.2010.491051paper
  2. [gbaguidi2022] Gbaguidi A.M., Chadaré F.J., Padonou S.W., Assou C., Hounhouigan J.D. 2022, Preliminary studies on the variation in microbial succession, physico-chemical characteristics and antioxidant capacity during a spontaneous fermentation of Mutchayan, Biology and Life Sciences Forum 6(1):124, doi:10.3390/foods2021-10989 (abstract)paper