Kunu (kunun in Hausa) is a family of grain drinks from northern Nigeria and across West Africa: millet, sorghum or maize steeped, milled with spices such as ginger, cloves and pepper, made into a thin gruel and soured briefly. In a survey of producers and consumers, about 73% of respondents drank kunu daily, across all social classes; kunun zaki (“sweet kunu”) was the most common type, alongside kunun gyada (with groundnuts), kunun akamu, kunun tsamiya and others (Gaffa et al., 2002). It’s a non-alcoholic drink, served cold and often sweetened.
How Kunu Is Made
The same survey describes the process (Gaffa et al., 2002): grains are steeped in water for 12–72 hours depending on the grain (or 5–7 hours in warm water, 60–70°C), wet- or dry-milled with or without spices, sometimes combined with sweet potato, malted rice or malted sorghum, and cooked into a thin, free-flowing gruel. Millet is the favourite grain, often mixed with sorghum.
For kunun zaki, a common home method is to cook part of the spiced slurry into a thick gruel, stir in the rest uncooked, and leave it for some hours to sour before sieving – the uncooked portion brings enzymes and microbes.
What Ferments It
Following kunun zaki production, researchers found a wide range of microbes at first; molds disappeared after steeping, Gram-negative bacteria were eliminated by the end of fermentation, Lactobacillus species predominated, and rising acidity favoured the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. About 8 hours of fermentation gave an acceptable product (Efiuvwevwere & Akona, 1995).
A sequencing study of three kunu formulations found Lactobacillus dominating the final drink in two – but Clostridium dominating the third – and potential human enteric pathogens among the bacteria shared across samples. On the positive side, most mycotoxins present in the ingredients were no longer detectable after processing, reduced mainly by fermentation, with dilution and sieving helping too (Ezekiel et al., 2019).
Keeping It Safe
Kunu is sold widely by street vendors, and part of it isn’t cooked after fermenting, so hygiene matters:
- Start with clean, sound grain (discard mouldy or discolored grain), and use safe drinking water for steeping and mixing.
- Keep the souring time short – hours, not days – then sieve, chill and drink it within a day or two.
- For babies, young children, pregnancy or anyone with weakened immunity, choose freshly made kunu prepared hygienically with safe water.
Related West African and East African grain drinks: Nigeria’s ogi, Tanzania’s togwa and Ghana’s kenkey. Mixed with fermented milk, millet becomes the Fulani drink fura da nono.