The unmalted flour is boiled into a thick porridge called aceda. Then the malted flour is added. The porridge miraculously thins and becomes sweet. This liquid mixture is seeded with dough from a prior batch of bread and is allowed to ferment in a warm corner. A cocktail of juices and herbs is then added consisting of cinnamon, date juice, hibiscus, ginger, galangal, coriander, cardamom, and pepper, among other things. Wealthy households might also add more luxurious flavorings like rose water or tamarind juice, which are produced by soaking fruit in water until soft then straining. The spiced slurry of sorghum is fermented again and then baked.
Uwassa or baking occurs on a wide flat sheet over a wood fire. The batter is poured onto the pan and spread back and forth to cook evenly in a thin sheet. The pancakey sheet is then folded and dried on mats for a day or two. The crumbs of these sheets are the end result and can keep for up to 2 years in a dry place.
Suleiman gives one example of a recipe:
A quarter of sorghum, half of it is a fresh sorghum and the second half is ground, a quarter of a pound of fennel. 1/4 pound cilantro, 1/4 pound ginger, half a pound cinnamon, 1/4 pound honey, a quarter of a pound of lute (sweat), a quarter of a pound of cumin, 2 grams of fenugreek, A pound Aradib (tamarind), a pound of hibiscus. The spices are ground and mixed (except for tamarind) which is soaked in water until softened and then filtered.
When the month of fasting comes around, the stored hulu mur bread springs to life. Each afternoon, the dried flakes are crumbled into water and mixed with sugar. By the time the fast is broken, the drink is well infused, but not enough time has passed for alcoholic fermentation to occur. It is served, often chilled or with ice, and quenches the day long fast of the entire nation.
While no fermentation occurs after the bread is mixed with water, hulu mur is a fermented product. During the production of the bread, lactic acid and acetic acid bacteria ferment the feterita grain porridge. To a much lesser extent, yeast ferments the dough. This fermentation does not create booze, but it does enrich the nutritional value of the bread with vitamins. According to a University of Khartoum thesis by Marhoum, the bread is composed of 31% sugar, 14.3% protein, 3.8% lactic acid, 3.5% ash, and 41% starch. After fasting all day, the drink is the pinnacle of replenishment.
The history of this beverage, and its breakfast tradition, is not ancient. Feterita sorghum was likely discovered in Sudan in 1833 according to Suleiman. Surely it is possible that other strains of sorghum were used for the purpose, but the signature red color that hulu mur inherits from the malted feterita is no more than 200 years old. Islam, on the other hand, had roots in Sudan long before domesticated feterita.
Hulu mur, a sweet and sour Sudanese specialty, is enjoyed simultaneously by an entire country. As synchronized as the Sudanese Muslims are in fasting, they are in just as much unison in breaking that fast, down to the very first sip they take. Not only is hulu mur a beverage bound within the borders of Sudan, but it is bound to a specific time–the hour of iftar during the month of Ramadan.
