However, although still widely consumed, they are often overlooked as weaning foods.

But sour porridges seem to fulfill many of the characteristics required, and they also reduce the risk of pathogenic diarrhea—Africa's leading cause of infant death. They save time and energy as well, and might be very suitable for use during the day when a working mother has no time to cook.

A few fermented foods are already employed as weaning preparations. One example is ogi, a blancmange-like product that is one of Nigeria's most important foods. Ogi is created by fermenting a slurry of sorghum, millet, or maize. Adults eat it for breakfast, but some is kept aside and used as a weaning food.

There are possibilities, too, of combining fermentation and malting. Thus, fermented doughs, such as ogi or ugi (a similar product widely eaten in East Africa), might be liquefied with Power Flour into forms that weanlings can "drink." In that way children could ingest more, and the double processing would likely produce highly digestible foods, easy for any young, old, or sick bodies to assimilate.