Outside almost every basic school in Ghana, a seller sits with a tray of small treats at break time. Among the toffees and biscuits are squares of a hard, golden sweet packed with peanuts. Children call it nkate cake. Nkate is the Twi word for groundnuts, and the snack is simply roasted groundnuts set in melted, caramelised sugar, then cut into pieces once it hardens. It costs very little, and it is one of the treats Ghanaians remember from their school days.
Ingredients and making it
The basic recipe needs only groundnuts and sugar. Some cooks add a little water, butter or salt. The groundnuts are roasted until golden, then rubbed to remove their papery skins. Sugar is melted in a pan until it turns amber. The cook must work quickly, because caramel can burn in seconds. The groundnuts are stirred into the hot caramel until they are evenly coated.
The mixture is spread on a greased tray or board and flattened. Before it fully hardens, it is cut into squares or bars.
School gates, home and small trade
Good nkate cake is crunchy but not so hard that it hurts the teeth. The balance of sugar and nuts matters. Hawkers sell nkate cake at schools, lorry stations and markets, often wrapped in small plastic bags. Many families make it at home for children or for visitors at Christmas. Groundnuts are grown widely in northern Ghana and are used in soups, pastes and snacks.
Ghanaians also eat roasted groundnuts with bananas, and groundnut paste is used to make groundnut soup. Making nkate cake is a small business for many women, who sell to schools and shops.
Memories and keeping it crisp
Similar peanut brittles are made in many countries, from India to the United States. Many adults say the taste of nkate cake takes them straight back to the school compound. Prices rise and fall with the groundnut harvest. When groundnuts are cheap after harvest, sellers make larger batches. When sugar prices climb, the squares get smaller.
Nkate cake softens in humid weather, so sellers keep it in sealed jars or plastic bags to hold its crunch. Nkate cake has only two ingredients and needs no oven. Plenty of Ghanaian adults who never learned to bake can still make it.