Pombe Ya N'Dizi: the Final Product

January 23, 2010, was the first day I set out to make pombe ya n'dizi, the Tanzanian banana wine that Dorinda Hafner showcases in her cookbook A Taste of Africa. Six months later I have it in front of me, bottled and in a glass. Out of the original six liters (about six quarts) of liquid I eventually got two wine bottles' worth of wine. I was never able to strain the clouds of dead yeast at the bottom of the bottle, and I worried about what this would do to the wine.


The result of my first winemaking experiment: the banana wine is definitely a dessert wine. It's a bit thicker than most other wines I have drunk. What else can I say? It's a thick and extremely sweet banana wine that drinks more like a banana liqueur than a banana wine. Be prepared for that if you make it. And again, set aside six months for the process.