Pito – brewed millet

Corn, rice, and millet are the common grains grown in my region of Ghana. All three are used food, but millet is also used to produce the local brew – pito, or daa in the local language. “N nyu daa” - in Dagaree means “I drink pito.”

There are several varieties of millet grown here – a red and white varieties have loose heads. These are used for pito and other foods. There is also a smaller seed variety with a tight head of seeds that is mainly used for porridge. (Don't have a picture of that variety yet.)

In all varieties millet grows on a stalk with the grain head at the top of the stalk.

White and red millet in the field

Two bundles of while millet to be used for seed next season

Converting a grain to alcohol is a common practice in various cultures. It provides a way to capture and digest the nutritional value of the grain. In some places, like Germany and the beer brewing monks, the making a beer was a way to preserve the harvest. In Ghana the millet is preserved by drying. The brew is not bottled so it does not count as a way of preserving the harvest.

Brewing Pito

The best pito is brewed in the Upper West Region. I was told this not be the people of the Upper West where I am living now, but by natives a southern region where I had my training.

Women traditionally brew pito. The husband may help, but as this involves cooking, so the women have the knowledge, skills, and experience. The information is handed down from mother to daughter. Father's hand down their skills to their sons.

Pito is brewed in homes and in small businesses. These small businesses are also run by women. The women do all the work – make the pito, carry the benches for customers to sit, sell and serve the pito, etc.

The first step, as is common to brewing, is to sprout the millet. Sprouting grains increases the nutritional value of the grain for humans and yeast. Someone else with more experience in home brewing or biology may be able to add information about the value of sprouting the grain before fermentation.

Sprouting millet with a close up insert

After the grain has sufficiently sprouted it is dried and then ground into a coarse flour.

Container of flour made from dried sprouted millet

The millet flour is then soaked in water along with chopped orka stalks for an hour to so. The orka stalks are to provide additional sweetness to the drink. The stalks also provide a gel or slime that anyone who has boiled orka knows about. (Side note: I prefer my orka fried.) Much of the knowledge about the process is handed down by practice. The scientific or specific purpose of any step is not necessarily known.  (John: "Does the gel from the okra do anything?"  Theresa (runs the pito business): "It makes it sweeter."  There may be other benefits to adding okra stalks must like the benefits of sprouting that I don't know.)

Pot used to soak the millet and okra stalks before cooking.

The mixture is then boiled to sterilize and to further break down the starches for the yeast. On the “commercial scale” large cauldrons are used to cook the mixture. Cooking time is about one hour boiling.

Cauldron of the cooking mash.  Note wood used for cooking.

Another picture.  The wood is pushed into the fire as it burns or not to control temperature

After cooking the mixture is strained and cooled as “un-fermented pito”. The liquid is sweet and children and some people will drink this. I have also seen mothers giving their small children sips of fermented pito. The spent grain is used as animal feed.

Filtering out the mash after cooking

Yeast is then added. In most places this is more a “sour dough” approach using yeast from the previous batch and any naturally occurring yeast in the air. Households that do not continuously brew pito may go an buy some yeast from another lady for a batch at home. Fermentation takes about two days.

Pito ready to start fermenting

The fermentation is performed in open clay pots. The pot is initially filled about half way full for the primary fermentation. When fermentation is complete additional un-fermented pito is added and the mixture is ready to serve. If this is sufficiently hot it may kill some of the yeast and slow down fermentation.

Other pots used to ferment and store the pito until serving

Pito is not filtered so the yeast may continue to convert the sugars to alcohol and produce carbon dioxide. At different times the pito served may be hotter or cooler, sweeter or stronger. Yeast may be actively bubbling or settled to the bottom.

Pito is traditional served in a calabash. A gourd that is dried and cut in half. The calabash has some filtering properties capturing some of the yeast and impurities on the inside walls of the container. Because of this it is also traditional to toss the last bit on the ground.

Inside of the calabash showing a little of the yeast

I cannot really describe the taste. Maybe if I knew what millet tasted like, but then saying it tastes like millet may not be helpful anyway.  It is not carbonated.  It has a light tan color and it not transparent nor opaque.  As mentioned it is sometimes sweeter or stronger.  Warm or cooler.  It is not served refrigerated.

Tradition!

Sitting and talking, sharing time together, is a cultural norm in Ghana.  Ignoring an invite is insulting.

In some regions water or other beverages are served as a way of hospitality. In the Upper West it is traditionally pito. When I ride my bike past a pito stop it is common for those seated to invite me to stop to welcome me and chat small time.  Most of the time as I am traveling it is OK to keep going.

Today, I was stopped by some strangers and I had a small amount of pito, maybe a quarter of a calabash. I had to explain that I only take small amount.  So I drank slow and sat and talked for a small time.  Today, with the strangers - John, Francis, and James - I talked about America and Ghana and we shared information about our families for maybe 20 minutes before I continued on my way into town.

I don't like to drink much alcohol but I don't mind drinking a small amount of pito. In America I would have a glass of wine maybe 2 to 4 times a week.  I don't know about the health benefits of wine versus pito.

Picture of a sitting - Roger's bother (in black), Cletus (father of a Form 1 student) and Roger 

I normally have a sitting of one kind or another every day. In this way I strengthen my friendships and make new friends daily. It allows me to learn more about the local people and customs and provides an opportunity to answer some questions about America.  I have learned to say "amana" (that is enough) quickly so I can get only about a half a calabash.  The people I generally sit with understand that I prefer to drink only a small amount and have generally stopped trying to get me to drink more.

When I talk about life in Ghana versus life in America one of the biggest thing that people in Ghana find hard to understand is that we live in individual homes - sometimes alone in a big house, rather than family compounds. They think it very strange that we move around and our family can become spread out.  In Ghana multi-generational families may live together in different houses arranged together around a courtyard. The land is passed down so the families have deep roots and a tight connection with other family members and life long friends in the area.  Some people may more to Accra or another large city for school or employment, but most return sooner or later.

Dry season is coming

The dry season is coming (or since it has not rained except a very small amount in two weeks - it is already here).  My sinuses are drying out. Not necessarily clearing up, but drying out. The relative humidity has fallen during the day from about 60% to about 30%. The nights are getting a little cooler and as the atmosphere dries out (and allows hot air from the ground to rise faster). I've not see the harmattan winds that are expected within the next few weeks and through December. They will blow the Sahara dust into Ghana, into my house, my lungs, my eyes. Should be fun! If I can capture some good pictures (of the winds not of my lungs or eyes or such) I'll post those.



Love always,

John