Notes to broadcasters
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Traditional food processing – Look around and everywhere you will see people processing food – food is being dried, crushed, milled, canned, bottled, cooked and sweetened. Food processing is a common way for rural people to earn their income. Often, in the way of many traditional technologies, the ideas and methods are passed down through the generations, from mother to daughter.
Because food processing is such an important part of rural life, it should be easy to find people who can talk on air about processing food. You can, for example:
- Interview a daughter about a recipe she learned from her mother or grandmother.
- Ask listeners to send in letters about ways they have found to make food processing easier and less labour intensive. Produce a program based on the letters you receive.
- Set up a panel discussion where participants compare the advantages and disadvantages of traditional vs. modern food processing methods.
- Interview a woman who earns a good living by adding value to a food product through food processing.
As much as possible, organize your programs in such a way that women and other local people can tell their stories on the radio in their own way and in their own words.
The following program describes a traditional way used by women in Zimbabwe to make the always-popular peanut butter.(Peanuts are also known as groundnuts in many countries.)
Script
FADE IN INTRODUCTORY MUSIC AND HOLD UNDER NARRATOR.
Today’s program is about respecting local knowledge. Local knowledge is also called traditional knowledge or indigenous knowledge. This knowledge can be about farming, or health care, or food processing – anything that is important in your community. Today we’re going to focus on food processing as we learn about a traditional way of making peanut butter in Zimbabwe.
FADE OUT MUSIC.
Many people love eating peanut butter. In parts of Africa, families in rural areas cannot do without peanut butter. In Zimbabwe, usually it is the women who make the peanut butter, and they are very good at it! They grind nuts into peanut butter with two stones.
Today we welcome a woman farmer who is going to talk to us about this traditional method.
Here she is now.
Greetings to all.
I want to start by telling you that the method I use to make peanut butter is called ‘kukyua‘ in my language.
It is quite simple. I use a big stone with a flat surface. Before I start to grind the peanuts, I clean the flat side of the big stone until it is thoroughly clean. This big stone is called the ‘guyo’. I place this big stone so that one end is higher than the other; in other words, the stone is on a slope or an angle. So that is the big stone. But to make peanut butter I also need a small stone. The small stone is called the ‘huyo’. The huyo is small enough to fit into my hand.
So we use these two stones that I’ve just told you about, to make peanut butter.
In a moment I will tell you more about how to use a guyo and a huyo to make peanut butter.
MUSICAL BREAK (5 seconds)
Do women in your community use stones to grind peanuts into peanut butter? Or do they use some other method?
Our friend is back now to tell you more about how the women in Zimbabwe use aguyo(a big stone) and ahuyo(a small stone) to make peanut butter.
When I am ready to make the peanut butter, I kneel down beside the big stone and hold the smaller stone with both hands. I place a plate or tray at the low end of the big stone. Then I take a handful of the roasted peanuts and crush them on the guyo using the huyo.
SOUND EFFECTS:(Sound of nuts being crushed and ground in the background.)
I keep crushing and crushing the peanuts between the two stones. The peanuts turn into peanut butter, and the peanut butter slides down the slope of the big stone onto the plate. Of course I have to press hard to crush the nuts. But my kneeling position helps me to support myself. After I have crushed all the groundnuts, I collect the ground peanuts and grind them even more to make it as smooth as possible.
SOUND EFFECTS: (Fade out sound of grinding peanuts.)
Usually I continue until the peanut butter is very smooth. When it is ready, I pack it in bottles or tins.
MUSICAL BREAK
A sincere thank you to our respected friend for talking with us today.
As you have heard, our friend is definitely an expert on processing peanuts into peanut butter.
I remember that I used to stay very close to my mother when she was making peanut butter. She would leave a bit of the peanut butter on the surface of the big stone for my sisters and I. We would scramble to eat it as soon as she was finished her work.
Usually peanut butter in Zimbabwe is used in place of cooking oil. Peanut butter is used in porridge at times mixed with cornmeal or sorghum. It also tastes good if it is cooked with dried meat, pumpkin leaves and dried vegetables. Or people smear it on bread just like butter. At times it is baked together with flour into scones or home made bread.
MUSIC TO END PROGRAM
Acknowledgements
Contributed by: George Kufa, Network Partner, Harare, Zimbabwe, E-mail: gkufa@yahoo.com