Matooke is green in colour with black colour on the top it becomes yellow when it ripens though when it turns yellow it is not good as food hence suitable for juice, it is the staple food for Baganda tribe in the central region of Uganda, and it’s widely known as bananas. It’s only suitable in areas with fertile soils not comfort in acidic soils such as sandy and salty soils, as a plant requires a lot of water until harvesting period and in Uganda is grown in areas such as Masaka in Buganda, Ankole in Mbarara and Bushenyi, Kabarole in Tororo region, Hoima, Kabale, Kiboga. Has variety of types categorized according to the region and this therefore let’s concentrate in the Buganda region such types include sweet potatoes like Gonja, Bogoya, Sukali ndizi, kivuvu and musa, these types the locals normally brew waragi ‘local bear’ from it. We also have different classifications of Matooke which is suitable for food like Sila, Nakitembe, Kibuzi, Mbwazirume and Nakabululu
HOW MATOOKE IS GROWN?
We get small stems ‘enddu’ from the different mother plants then we cover them for some three-four days before being transferred to the holes which we dig three days back and we put manure ‘Nakavundira’ in order to maintain the fertility and quick growth of the plant, then we cover it with soil. Between two-three months we terrace and mulch the plantation ‘olusuku’ to control soil erosion and reduce on the rate of evaporation respectively. Then we remove the dry banana leaves and fibers ‘okusalira’ between six-eight month when most of the plants have brought out the flowers ‘empumumpu’ which turns into fruits ’matooke’ after one and half years, then it’s ready for harvesting.
HOW TO PREPARE MATOOKE FOOD IN BUGANDA REGION?
If you take a nature safaris with Friends Nature Safaris, we take you in the whole process of preparing a Matooke Meal as, we get Matooke from the garden using a panga, okuyunja it’s taken at home where we peel and prepare it from the place called egwatiro. After peeling, we put matooke into a local basket ‘ekiibo’ where we have already placed banana leaves endagala and on top we cover them with six chopped small pieces of banana leaves obuwuuwo then we tie it together using banana fibers ebyayi, we then remove it and put in the saucepan when it has formed omuwumbo. Then we wrap it using banana leaves ‘esaniiko’ to ensure that food gets ready in time, after we put it on a local stove called ekyoto.
After two-three hours we put it down from a local stove onto enkata then we unwrap and carry omuwumbo into a local basket where we squeeze it together okunyiga so that it become solid and then we put it back into the saucepan and wrap it with ‘esaniiko’. We again put it onto a local stove for extra cooking okubobera for about one hour or more then it’s ready to eat.
SOURS SWEET ON MATOOKE IN BUGANDA REGION?
Matooke food is sweet on every sour but sweeter especially on
- Groundnuts mixed with a mushroom(Obutiiko)
- Unfried meat cooked from Akasaka(Omukalo)
- Groundnuts mixed with dry fish
- Cowpeas
