Ginger and Tamarind: The Flavours Behind West African Juices

West Africa has a drinks culture that Europe barely knows. Beyond bissap sit two others that deserve the same attention: ginger juice and tamarind juice.

Gnamankoudji, the Ivorian ginger drink

Known as gnamankoudji in Cote d'Ivoire, this is fresh ginger juice, and it is not a gentle thing. Made properly it is fiercely hot, sharp and aromatic.

Method. Peel roughly two hundred grams of fresh ginger for one litre of finished drink. Roughly chop, blend with five hundred millilitres of water until fully broken down. Strain through a fine cloth, squeezing hard. Add the remaining water, the juice of one lemon, and sweeten to taste. Chill for at least two hours, which softens the burn considerably.

Variations. A vanilla pod or a little pineapple juice is common and rounds off the heat. Some households add a pinch of clove or a knob of fresh turmeric.

Served in small glasses, cold, it is a genuinely serious aperitif and functions rather like a bitter would in a European context.

Tamarind juice

Tamarindus indica gives a sticky brown pulp with a sourness like sour plum crossed with date. It is used across the Sahel and as far as India and Mexico.

Method. Soak one hundred grams of tamarind pulp in one litre of warm water for one to two hours. Work it with the fingers to separate pulp from seed and fibre. Strain through a sieve, pressing to extract everything. Sweeten to taste and chill.

Variations. Tamarind takes ginger and mint well. In Burkina Faso it is sometimes combined with baobab for a deeply sour, complex drink.

Why these work where soft drinks do not

Commercial soft drinks are built on one axis: sugar. These are built on several, which is why a glass holds attention. Ginger brings pungency, tamarind brings sourness and a tannic edge, bissap brings acidity and colour, baobab brings tartness and body. Combine them and you have a drinks list with real range and no alcohol in it.

A practical suggestion for a table: bissap with mint, ginger juice with vanilla, tamarind with lime. Three glasses, three completely different experiences, nothing to explain to anyone about why you are not drinking.

Buying dried ingredients

For ginger, fresh is best but dried ground ginger works at roughly one heaped teaspoon per litre. For tamarind, buy compressed blocks of pulp with seeds rather than concentrate paste, which is usually sweetened and diluted.

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