How to make Genger Tiv Soup

Genger Soup

Genger is made from  the flower buds of a Genger tree.  The buds are picked and the petals are detached and the shell is dried completely (a process that takes days to weeks).  Once it is fully dried, it changes to brown.  The dried buds are then pounded into a powder and the powder is what is used to make the Genger soup.  The tree is mostly found in Tiv land and not so much in other parts of Nigeria. It tree can be found in Konshisha, Gwer east, Gboko, Vandeikya, Tarkaa and some areas in Tiv land.  It  is a seasonal soup which is enjoyed from late November to early April of the next year. There is a general belief that once the rain sets in, the Genger looses its rich taste.  Preparation time for Genger is usually about one hour, depending on if you start with powder or the buds. 

The ingredients needed for this unique soup:
1.Yiye (black pepper)
2. Nune (Locust beans)
3. Gbaaye
4. Mtsem (potassuim/baking soda)
5. Nyam Shu. (fish)
6. Kyoho
7. Kwagh human doom.
8. Affishi (makeral fish)
9. Baar. (salt)
10. Mkem.(fresh pepper)
11. Magi
12. Tsua u Atsenger. Local pot. ( Sand made pot)
13. Mkulen ma Nyian. (palm oil)

14. Genger

When you gathered all the above, you get a  pot, use 3 to 4 table spoon of the grounded Genger powder and pour it in the pot, add water and little  mtsem ( potassium) turn it by stirring it till it is completely desolve. Leave it for 25 minutes to rise on the fire on low heat.
After that process, blend your Nune, Gbaaye, mkem, kyoho, and yiye.  When it is well blended you combine your blended paste with baar, maggi and fish. Boil for 15-20 minutes then combine with the Genger, allow it to boil for 5 minutes before you take it from the fire. After this process, your Soup is ready to serve. Genger soup is best serve with pounded yam.

VALUES OF GENGER SOUP.
It is said to be medicinal. Some say it heals wounds and sharpens ones thought process.
It is a soup that can last for 10 days when prepared properly. It taste sweet every day so far it is not finished.
It is a unity soup that units people together in Tiv land. A person who prepares a nice Genger soup will invite a fellow woman in the kitchen to shares the meal.
It is used to settle quarrels.  If you give a fellow woman the soup, she forgive all her negative plans against you.
Most of the food hotels in Tiv land around the dry season are stocked with Genger soup, so it makes good business.
It is a soup that Tiv girls prepared for their new husband as a first feeding meal after traditional marriage ceremony in the month of late November to early April of another year.
The hallmark of the Genger soup is its quality and aromatic taste.