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Fermentation Atlas

Cereals and bread from Sudan

Nasha (Sudanese fermented sorghum infant porridge)نشا

Nasha is a thin, sour porridge of fermented whole sorghum flour that Sudanese families give to infants and small children. Sorghum flour and water are left to sour, often seeded with a little of the previous batter, and then cooked into a gruel. A 1986 feeding trial found it a satisfactory weaning food when properly cooked and eaten with a little lysine-rich food. Made in 3 steps over 9 h – 24 h. The longest step, let the batter sour, takes 9–24 h (Mohammed S.I 1991) and runs at 30 °C (Mohammed S.I 1991). Lactobacillus species and Streptococcus species do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step9–24 hReported[mohammed1991]Let the batter sour
Temperature30 °CReported[mohammed1991]Let the batter sour
AciditypH 6 → 3.95Measured[mohammed1991]Let the batter sour
DocumentedCereals and bread9 h – 24 hMore cereals and breadMore from Sudan

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceNo nasha recipe with amounts was found; the only proportion is from a laboratory model of Sudanese sorghum batter for kisra.
Whole-grain sorghum flour[graham1986]
1 part flour to 2 parts water (w/v) in a laboratory model of the kisra batterWater · Proportion from the closely related Sudanese kisra batter, not measured for nasha[mohammed1991]
A little previous batter · Optional seed; in the kisra batter it shortened the time to full bacterial growth[mohammed1991]
Starterbackslop (previous batter) or spontaneous

Total time across the recorded steps: 9 h – 24 h

Start
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What changes: Whole sorghum flour is stirred into water

Step 1 of 3
Mix sorghum flour and water
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactic acid bacteria
Yeasts

Output: thin batter.

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

Nasha is cooked thin as a drinkable gruel for children, while the same kind of soured sorghum batter is baked into the flat bread kisra or cooked stiff as aceda.

Related ferments

Variants

  • Drum-dried nashaDried flakes tested for child feeding; need further cooking.
  • Freeze-dried nashaUsed in the same feeding trial and cooked before eating.

Safety

Cook nasha well. In a 1986 trial with recovering malnourished children, cooked nasha supplied 61 % of the diet's calories; children absorbed 73 ± 5 % of its nitrogen, less than from casein (86 ± 3 %), and drum-dried nasha eaten without cooking had a much lower biological value. Adding a little lysine-rich food improved it.

Hazards the sources name: Klebsiella pneumoniae and Enterobacter cloacae, found during kisra batter fermentation.

History and sources

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

Nasha is a traditional Sudanese weaning food. In 1986 a feeding study with recovering malnourished infants and small children tested freeze-dried and drum-dried nasha against casein diets.

  1. [graham1986] Graham G.G., MacLean W.C., Morales E., Hamaker B.R., Kirleis A.W., Mertz E.T., Axtell J.D. 1986, Digestibility and utilization of protein and energy from nasha, a traditional Sudanese fermented sorghum weaning food, Journal of Nutrition 116(6):978–984 (abstract)paper
  2. [mohammed1991] Mohammed S.I., Steenson L.R., Kirleis A.W. 1991, Isolation and characterization of microorganisms associated with the traditional sorghum fermentation for production of Sudanese kisra, Applied and Environmental Microbiology 57(9):2529–2533paper
  3. [adebo2020] Adebo O.A. 2020, African sorghum-based fermented foods, past, current and future prospects, Nutrients 12(4):1111 (table of products and microbes)paper