Cloudy banana beer fermented in a wooden trough with sorghum flour. Bananas ripen in a pit, are trodden in a hollowed trough and fermented with roasted sorghum; the Baganda call the trough method mwenge bigere, foot beer.
Home brewing of alcohol is licensed or restricted in most of the atlas’s readership, and the ferment relies on wild cultures on the sorghum and in the trough.
What goes into it
- ripe cooking bananas
- roasted sorghum flour
- water
- grass for the treading
How it is made
Bananas are ripened in a covered pit for days until very sweet, then trodden with grass in a hollowed-out wooden trough so the juice runs out. The juice is diluted, mixed with roasted sorghum flour that carries both yeast and colour, and left to ferment for two to four days in a covered vessel.
How long it takes: several days of ripening, then two to four days fermenting
How it is eaten
From a shared pot or a jerrycan at gatherings and ceremonies.
History
Bananas ripen in a pit, are trodden in a hollowed trough and fermented with roasted sorghum; the Baganda call the trough method mwenge bigere, foot beer.
Frequently asked questions
What is Tonto?
Tonto is a wine & spirit from Uganda: cloudy banana beer fermented in a wooden trough with sorghum flour. Bananas ripen in a pit, are trodden in a hollowed trough and fermented with roasted sorghum; the Baganda call the trough method mwenge bigere, foot beer.
How is Tonto made?
Bananas are ripened in a covered pit for days until very sweet, then trodden with grass in a hollowed-out wooden trough so the juice runs out. The juice is diluted, mixed with roasted sorghum flour that carries both yeast and colour, and left to ferment for two to four days in a covered vessel. It takes several days of ripening, then two to four days fermenting.
Can I make Tonto 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 wild cultures on the sorghum and in the trough.
What goes into Tonto?
Ripe cooking bananas, roasted sorghum flour, water, grass for the treading.
How is Tonto eaten?
From a shared pot or a jerrycan at gatherings and ceremonies.
