Setswana sorghum beer, brewed by women over several days and served in shared containers at ceremonies and work parties. It is thick, sour, low in alcohol and still fermenting when it is drunk, which is why it is served young.
Home brewing of alcohol is licensed or restricted in most of the atlas’s readership, and the sour stage relies on the resident bacteria of vessels used over and over.
What goes into it
- sorghum malt
- sorghum or maize meal
- water
How it is made
Sorghum is sprouted and dried to malt, then mixed with water and left to sour overnight with lactic bacteria. The soured mash is cooked, cooled, and more malt stirred in to ferment. The beer is drunk while still active and cloudy, within a day or two of being ready, because it does not keep.
How long it takes: three to five days from grain to serving
How it is eaten
Ladled from a shared bucket or calabash at funerals, weddings and communal work; bojalwa jwa Setswana is a customary offering.
History
Sorghum beer brewed by women over several days and served in ceremonies and work parties; bojalwa jwa Setswana is a customary offering.
Frequently asked questions
What is Bojalwa?
Bojalwa is a wine & spirit from Botswana: homebrewed sorghum beer for village gatherings. Sorghum beer brewed by women over several days and served in ceremonies and work parties; bojalwa jwa Setswana is a customary offering.
How is Bojalwa made?
Sorghum is sprouted and dried to malt, then mixed with water and left to sour overnight with lactic bacteria. The soured mash is cooked, cooled, and more malt stirred in to ferment. The beer is drunk while still active and cloudy, within a day or two of being ready, because it does not keep. It takes three to five days from grain to serving.
Can I make Bojalwa at home?
No, and the atlas gives no method for it. Home brewing of alcohol is licensed or restricted in most of the atlas’s readership, and the sour stage relies on the resident bacteria of vessels used over and over.
What goes into Bojalwa?
Sorghum malt, sorghum or maize meal, water.
How is Bojalwa eaten?
Ladled from a shared bucket or calabash at funerals, weddings and communal work; bojalwa jwa Setswana is a customary offering.
