From clay pots to commercial crowns: Marula beer as a promising exotic beverage for the 21st century

The consumption of marula fruit (Sclerocarya birrea) beer has a long history in Southern Africa. For over 10,000 years, marula fruit beer has played a central role in the dietary, spiritual, and socio-cultural reality of low-income communities in South Africa, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Botswana, and the Kingdom of Eswatini. Given its high vitamin C content (two times the vitamin C content of oranges), antioxidants, and minerals, marula fruit, marula fruit juice, and marula fruit beer have been important sources of nutrients in rural areas. In recent decades, the production of marula fruit beer has transcended its cultural and social relevance, becoming a crucial economic driver by providing much-needed household income. Women have particularly benefited from the direct sale of the marula fruit to marula fruit liqueur producers such as Distell, and the informal trade of the beer to the local people. Seeing the potential to grow the market, a few marula fruit beer commercialisation attempts were made in the 1990s, albeit without much success. These past failures highlight the absence of comprehensive data on optimal standard processing procedures, nutritional composition, economic and export potential, societal relevance, microbial quality, and consumer safety. The consideration of each of these aspects is necessary for the successful commercialisation and market adoption of the beverage, locally and internationally. Thus, this study provided a comprehensive review of various aspects and properties that describe marula fruit beer fundamentally as an artisanal product with the potential to be a competitive exotic fruit alcoholic beverage in the niche market of fruit-based alcoholic drinks.