West Africa · Drink
Tchoukoutou (Fermented Red Sorghum and Millet Beer)
A rustic, opaque, and tangy Beninese ancestral beer brewed from malted red sorghum and pearl millet with wild lacto-fermentation notes.
The story
Tchoukoutou is the sacred ancestral ale of the Batammariba and Otammari peoples nestled within the rugged Atakora mountains of northwestern Benin. Brewed in large earthenware pots for harvest festivals, funerals, and community building rites, it represents hospitality and communion with ancestors. A profound technical secret of Otammari brewsters is allowing a spontaneous 24-hour lactic acid fermentation before kettle boiling, giving the unhopped ale its characteristic sour effervescence and dense colloidal body.
Unlock the full recipe
Members get every recipe from all 54 nations, the AI Chef, hands-free Voice Chef and their own cookbook. Seven days free, then £4.99 a month. Cancel any time.
Cook this next
Ablo (Steamed Fermented Mini Rice and Corn Breads)
Delicately sweet, spongy fermented rice and corn cakes steamed in individual portions.
Adalu (Savory Corn and Black-Eyed Bean Stew)
A luscious, slow-cooked pottage of sweet corn kernels and tender black-eyed peas enriched with spiced red palm oil.
Adowè (Silky Peeled White Bean Puree with Red Palm Oil)
A velvet-smooth puree of skinned white beans crowned with fragrant, onion-infused red palm oil.
Amiwo au Poulet (Beninese Savory Red Corn Paste with Braised Chicken)
Silky spiced red cornmeal paste infused with dried shrimp and aromatics, served with crispy browned chicken.