Home-brewed maize and millet beer, cloudy and sour, drunk from a clay pot. It is brewed over seven days by women for bira ceremonies, where beer is poured for the ancestors before anyone drinks.
Home brewing of alcohol is licensed or restricted in most of the atlas’s readership, and the ferment relies on the culture living in pots used continuously.
What goes into it
- maize meal
- finger millet malt
- water
How it is made
Millet is sprouted and dried to malt. Maize meal is cooked into a porridge and left to sour overnight, then cooked again, cooled and mixed with the malt to ferment. The seven-day cycle is set by the ceremony rather than by the beer, and it is drunk while still working.
How long it takes: seven days from grain to pot
How it is eaten
From a clay pot passed with both hands at a bira ceremony, after the pouring for the ancestors.
History
Brewed over seven days by women for bira ceremonies, where beer is poured for the ancestors before anyone drinks.
Frequently asked questions
What is Hwahwa?
Hwahwa is a wine & spirit from Zimbabwe: home-brewed maize and millet beer, cloudy and sour, drunk from a clay pot. Brewed over seven days by women for bira ceremonies, where beer is poured for the ancestors before anyone drinks.
How is Hwahwa made?
Millet is sprouted and dried to malt. Maize meal is cooked into a porridge and left to sour overnight, then cooked again, cooled and mixed with the malt to ferment. The seven-day cycle is set by the ceremony rather than by the beer, and it is drunk while still working. It takes seven days from grain to pot.
Can I make Hwahwa 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 ferment relies on the culture living in pots used continuously.
What goes into Hwahwa?
Maize meal, finger millet malt, water.
How is Hwahwa eaten?
From a clay pot passed with both hands at a bira ceremony, after the pouring for the ancestors.
