Zimbabwe may run dry of beer as maize shortage bites

PANA via ZWNEWS ^ | July 8, 2002

[Bill Davis FR]

surely they need the corn for food...

[redhead]

"Is maize permitted as an ingredient in beer according to the German beer purity law of 1516, the Reinheitsgebot?"

I was wondering the same thing, but for a different reason: They use CORN to make their beer?? I wonder what that tastes like...?

[Billthedrill]

Is maize permitted as an ingredient in beer according to the German beer purity law of 1516, the Reinheitsgebot?

Certainly not! That enlightened legislation - the only government interference in food that makes any sense to me - that legislation is specific: water, barley, hops. Period.

Of course, any starch may be fermented into alcohol by yeast, making a "beer" of sorts. In the United States they put rice in the malt to form a strange, thin, somewhat beerlike food product called "Budweiser." I doubt if it'll catch on.

[Clive]

"surely they need the corn for food..."

Yes they do, and for livestock.

Maize is a staple in southern Africa and Zim was able to provide enough to feed itself, its livestock and make beer as well as export it to the rest of southern Africa.

It was also a net exporter of wheat, beef and tobacco.

But no more.

This year it will have to import 1.8 million tonnes of maize and it does not have the foreign exchange to do it.

So, no more Zambezi beer for a while.

But never fear, the rest of us will ship maize free of charge.

But Zim will have to allow it in. Last month it refused a relief shipment of maize from the US because the US was unable to certify that none of it was genetically engineered.