History of Soetsuurdeeg

Evidence points to humans evolving out of Africa millions of years ago. The Khoisan and Pygmies, some of the original hunter-gatherers spread outward from central Africa, becoming the most populous group prior to the Bantu expansions around 1000BC. The Koikoi populations inhabited what is now South Africa around 00AD, and were pastoral herders. The Bantu and Koikoi began the use of the click consonants.

In the 1300’s, European colonization began with the Portuguese searching for a silk road route around the southern end of Africa. By the mid 1600’s, the Dutch East India Company had become an established entity, which grew to influence people’s daily lives almost like a government. There were more persons employed or working as slaves than living in Europe!

Thus the Dutch became known as the Boers or Afrikaaners. In the late 1600’s, the French Hugeonots left France due to religious persecution, and settled among the Dutch colonists, as their protestant leanings were similar.

Many different peoples became known as Afrikaaners, with their language becoming the most prominent (blue color) over time. By the 2,000's, they comprised over 60% of the South African white population. 

Potatoes are indigenous to Peru. But there is controversy over whether the Dutch  brought the first potatoes in the 1600’s or if it was the French Hugeonots. Either way, the Hugeononts, being a smaller group, blended in, intermarried, and became part of the Afrikaaners. Once the British insurgencies in late 1700’s grew permanent, these Boers or Afrikaaners moved into rural areas north of Cape Town, away from the British administrative ruling.

Perhaps this explains how the Soetsuurdeeg came to be invented. Again, without access to yeast, these isolated groups of settlers had to come up with a new way to raise their bread. Using the resources they had, they fermented potatoes and whole wheat in a warm environment overnight without yeast.