Greetings!
I don't know where the urge came from, but I've been craving a cup of palm wine, even though it's not something I often drink due to its scarcity in the city. It's usually only available at local bars or directly from the palm wine tapper. To get some, you either need to book it in advance or rush to his house early in the morning to wait for him. That's how rare and uncommon palm wine is in the city. The ones in the bar are most times not standard due to excess addition of water.
Surprisingly, we have a man on our street who taps palm wine, but it always sells out immediately after he returns from the bush, making it hard to get whenever you want to drink.
This week, especially on Sunday, I want to have a taste of it, so I plan to visit the man's house on Saturday evening to pay in advance as a kind of booking. This way, he won't sell everything when he comes back on Sunday morning.
There's nothing special about this; I just want to taste it again and feel at home. Back in the village, I used to drink it a lot because it was very common and always available in our house. My dad often entertained visitors, and palm wine was one of the best drinks to offer, instead of buying beer or Coca-Cola from the shops. A true home person will always choose palm wine over drinks like beer. That's how it is in my neighborhood.
Palm wine can be intoxicating when consumed in excess, but I'm not going to drink that much. I just want half a litre, sit in my compound, take off my shirt, plug in my AirPods, and sip it from a glass while nodding my head to the cool sound of music.
People often say drinking is best enjoyed outside, but that's not the case for me. I don't even drink(alcohol), so the little I do, I make sure I enjoy it within my space and at my own pace.
Are you wondering what palm wine is?
I used to think everyone knew about palm wine until I met a South African friend who didn't and I was surprised. As the name suggests, palm wine is made from the sap of palm trees. Although, if you cut down a palm tree and leave it for a while, this liquid will start dropping in small portions, there's a special way it's harnessed to obtain a larger quantity, and the technique is known by only a few people on earth. I'm among them because my dad used to collect this drink from palm trees on our farms, which we used to refresh ourselves during rest time in the farm house.
It's not cooked; it's a natural wine taken directly from the tree. The wine can be very tasty when collected directly from the tree. The taste is so distinct that even when water is added, it maintains the same level of sweetness except water is added in excess as it's done in many local bars.
Thanks for reading.
This is my response to Weekend-engagement contest
| Photos are mine|
