Unravelling Nigeria Presents Palmwine Sessions
In February, we curated a palmwine experience which started with us learning how to tap wine and then ended with a village square type of setting which included food, drinks, games, face painting and more.
(distillation process was from a previous visit as the rain caused chaos)
First things first, it rained and it was heavy. This was the start to our palmwine experience. Due to this, alot of things went very very wrong.
Our vendor ran late which in turn meant we couldn’t set out when we wanted to. There were also people who came late (thankfully just 2 people).
Luckily for us, everyone was in good spirits and understood. Very soon everyone on the bus was yapping away about Black Panther as we had an ‘Mbaku’ look alike on the trip.
All Hail Mbaku
An hour after departing Lekki, we were at the palmwine/ogogoro (local gin) factory and our contact person Mr. Mufu introduced us to the owner – Mr. Jonathan.
His tapping equipment
Because of the rain, everywhere was a mess and this meant we couldn’t walk to the palm trees (the path to the palm trees is filled with grass and mud). Mr. Jonathan therefore had to get creative and along with Mr. Mufu we decided that we would go in canoes to the palm trees in batches to watch him work his magic.
After everyone had seen the process, he then explained the ‘intricacies’ of palm wine tapping and ogogoro making.
Ogogoro is made from fermented plamwine which is something some people are not aware of. After fermentation, it is then poured into a metal boiler to boil. The steam is condensed and the rest they say is history. It’s a whole operation which is reminiscent of the moonshine operation in America during the prohibition era.
Jonathan happily gave us some of the gin they had made and the freshly tapped wine to try.
After learning, we bought some of his palm wine and ogogoro and headed on our merry way to the next location.
This part we did for the culture. In Nigeria wherever you find a gathering of people drinking palmwine, you find games like draughts, ludo etc, food, drinks, music and just people vibing and this is exactly what we recreated.
Even lunch had a local spin. We reinvented small chops by having a local version which included boli, suya, chicken and puff puff.
A post shared by Doja Culinary Company (@dojaculinary) on Feb 28, 2018 at 2:35am PST
The highlight of the day was our tribal face painting by DMC. It was a hit and everyone loved it. Even some of the villagers got in on the action.
A pleasant surprise was Kitchen Butterfly surprising us with her yummy cupcakes. They don’t call her the superstar food blogger for nothing.
The rest of the day was spent playing games, drinking and really just spreading good vibes.
It was certainly a unique way to spend the day and shed a bit of light on one of Nigeria’s longest pastime.
And the group, well they were a fantastic bunch and we can’t wait to have them come and experience something new with us.
Interested in a palm wine trip? Get in touch.
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*Reviews are based on opinions and personal experiences, and may differ from person to person
*prices written are based on the time the visit was made and is subject to change by the owners