The Liberian Kanyan Story
Kanyan has is roots deeply embedded in Liberia, West Africa. Anyone who has lived in this tiny West African country, even for a brief period of time, may have had a taste of this favorite and popular local snack.
Kanyan has two main ingredients, peanuts and cassava farina or Gari as it is called in West Africa. The combination of these two ingredients gives the kanyan its rich peanut flavor and grainy farina texture. Sugar is added to sweeten the snack. Gari or farina can also be substituted with ground rice. For the purpose of this story farina or Gari is used.
Traditionally, kanyan is prepared using local tools and manual processors. The iron pot used to parch the peanuts, fanner or large tray made from braided processed palm branches, the mortar and pestle which are used to pound the ingredients. In fact the locals tend to like the flavor added from the mortar.
Making Kanyan
The traditional kanyan recipe is simple but comes with a labor of love since the peanuts are processed from scratch. It starts with selecting good raw peanuts or grounpeas as we call them in Liberia, quality processed farina or Gari and granulated sugar.
Peanuts are parched or roasted in a large aluminum of iron pot or live coals using a coal stove (cook pot). The roasted peanuts are spread in a fanner or large braided straw platter and allowed to cool. Once cooled, the roasted peanuts are hand peeled until all the roasted skin are removed.The peanuts are fanned to discard the peels.
Roasted peanuts are placed in a mortar and pounded with a pestle until it reached a certain consistency determined by the preparer. Farina is then added with the sugar and pounded to fully incorporate all ingredients.
Once the kanyan reaches a certain consistency and appears full blended, it is removed from the mortar and rolled in balls or placed whole in a container with a lid and stored until ready to eat (which is not for very long).
Kanyan is widely sold by petite traders all over Liberia. It is one of the favorite ready to eat snacks.
