......The porridge can be made from maize, millet, sorghum or finger millet.
Mwende says that a kilo of maize can be used to prepare ten (10) litres of the porridge.
According to Joyce Ngina, a customer and a local resident of Mutomo, after drinking one cup of the porridge she can stay for a whole day without taking water.
Her sentiments are echoed by Daniel Muendo, also a customer who says that every market day he takes at least a cup of the porridge.
Mwende explains this by saying that in every stage of preparation, the porridge is made using a lot of water and then stored in either gourds or enclosed jerry cans which helps maintain the coldness.
“I inherited the knowledge from my mother when I was a young girl’’, says Mwende adding that she has passed on this knowledge to her two daughters.
However, she admits that this knowledge is getting extinguished and people are turning to modern ways of making porridge like grinding using the posho mills.
PREPARATION
- Break maize using a hand driven mill.
- Soak the proceeds in water for 24 hours
- Filter the water
- Grind the soaked maize using the traditional grinding stones
- Grind until a residue is released then put the proceeds in water for it to wash out
- Repeat the process until the entire residue is grinded
- Store the mixture for a few hours until the residue and water separate
- Filter the water out
- Mix the filtered water with fresh water and boil
- Add the residue to the boiling water
- Boil for 10 minutes as you keep on stirring
- Store the porridge in an airy room until it is cold
- Pour the cold porridge into clean containers with lids
- Serve cold
ADVANTAGES
- Raw materials are locally produced i.e. maize, millet, sorghum or finger millet
- No preparation costs as the maize is grinded traditionally using grinding stones
DISADVANTAGES
- The porridge may pose health problems if proper hygiene is not observed in preparation
- Preparation is very time consuming
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| Customers enjoying the traditional uji |
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