Will we soon all be drinking wine made from… bananas?
Lesson 1 in wine: it’s made from grapes. Whether you enjoy drinking a bold Merlot or prefer a crispy Verdejo, the product ‘grape’ forms the basis of wine. But not in Malawi. There, Malawian farmers are experimenting with wine made from… bananas. And it turns out to be a huge success.
A change from using your overripe bananas for banana bread. Just make wine from them!
Why banana wine?
It’s not entirely coincidental or spontaneous that a farmer in Malawi came up with the idea of experimenting with bananas for wine. Farmers were even somewhat forced to get creative – at least if they didn’t want to lose profits on their bananas. Due to climate change, conditions for banana plantations in Malawi are far from ideal. The plantations used to be washed away by extreme rainfall. When the banana farmers moved to higher-lying areas, they instead had to deal with extreme heat. At 42 degrees Celsius, bananas ripen incredibly quickly. If you don’t anticipate that, you have to throw away your overripe bananas. The result: failed harvests and lost profits for the farmer.
Farmer Emily Nkhana came up with a solution. A very good solution, we can say. Banana wine! Because why throw away kilos of overripe bananas when you can apparently make wine from them too? Together with a small group of women, she joined the Twitule Cooperative Group, which now produces 20 to 50 litres of banana wine per month. The women grow the banana plants in their back gardens. The actual winemaking takes place in a small facility in a nearby village.
Making banana wine: here’s how
Winemaking is a very intensive but beautiful process. I know that 100% for sure after my visit to the Verdejo region of Rueda. In some ways, making banana wine is a little like making traditional wine – wine from grapes, that is. So how do you make banana wine? The farmers peel the overripe bananas and cut them into pieces. They then weigh the chopped bananas and mix the fruit with sugar, yeast, raisins, water and lemons. The mixture ferments for several weeks, after which it turns into a ‘wine’ with 13% alcohol. Powerful, intensely aromatic and above all: very delicious.
What banana wine tastes like
So what does banana wine actually taste like? Like banana, obviously. But the flavour isn’t too overpowering. You can also subtly taste lemon. It is lightly sweet and fruity, with a beautiful colour ranging from pale yellow to deep amber. Does it have these characteristics? Then the wine is perfect. But this requires precise timing from the farmers. Too ripe means too sweet, while too green means too sour. I said it already: winemaking is an intensive and beautiful process. Even when you make it from bananas.
Popular little wine
Malawi now has quite a few banana wine fans. Many consider it a delicious wine that you could almost call a dessert wine. The wine is now sold at markets throughout Malawi, as well as in the capital Lilongwe and the major city of Blantyre. It sells for 3 dollars (approximately 2.70 euros). Banana wine has become so popular that it is routinely sold out in Malawi. And so this creative experiment has turned out to be a lifesaver for Malawian banana farmers.
For now, you’ll have to fly to Malawi for a glass of banana wine. But who knows, perhaps it will conquer the world in no time – and before long we may even be able to use our entire fruit bowl to make wine. I can definitely see a business opportunity…
Also read:
- 7 ways of storing bananas tested: this method keeps them fresh the longest
- Emma’s food annoyances: green bananas at the supermarket
- This is one of the most beautiful wineries in Tuscany
Source: BBC
