Why are Ripe Bananas Best for Making Banana Beer?
Ingredients Banana beer is an alcoholic beverage that is popular throughout Africa. Known as “urwaga” in Kenya and “lubisi” in Uganda, banana beer is made by fermenting mashed bananas with a cereal–either sorghum or millet–flour. It has a sweet finish and is a rich, orange-yellow color. Containing approximately 4.8 percent alcohol per volume, it has a short shelf life of several days under proper storage conditions. Ingredients include ripe bananas, boiled water and roasted ground cereal. Preparing the Bananas Choosing ripe bananas is best for making banana beer because of the high sugar content they contain. The high sugar content of ripe bananas is necessary for the fermentation process. Unripened bananas contain insufficient sugars for fermentation. The ripening process can be sped up by warming the fruit. Overripe bananas are not recommended, as they may spoil the flavor or the beer. It also causes contamination due to the micro-organisms that cause overripe bananas to brown. The
