Page 59 - Msingi Afrika Magazine Issue 25
P. 59
Food health
Vangueria (Family Rubiaceae) apple, pear, and orange trees. Euphorbiaceae or Uapacaceae).
commonly grow with Given horticultural attention, Several produce flavorful,
surprising vigor in dry, eroded, monkey oranges probably can attractive fruits that engender
infertile, leached, or otherwise be raised with equal facility. enthusiasm wherever they occur.
challenging sites. These trees Already, they bear their fruits in These delights add a sweet yet
closely resemble one another abundance. tangy zest to traditional foods
in both appearance and a from porridges to desserts.
propensity to bear lots of fruits. 11. Star Apples Fully ripe, these are plumsized,
For want of any popular name In many tropical American yellow-brown in color, juicy,
in English, they are called wild countries, especially in the and honeylike in taste.
medlars or African medlars. The Caribbean, the star apple
fruits dry easily (even drying out (Chrysophyllum cainito) is a 13. Sweet Detar
before they are picked), after common dooryard tree whose Throughout much of tropical
which they take on the aroma apple-sized delights provide Africa the detar tree (Detarium
and flavor of dried apples. a sweet flesh with small seeds senegalense, Leguminosae) is
Reconstituted with water and arranged in a star pattern. common and its round brown
a little sugar, they substitute What is not well known is that the pods well known. At first sight
for applesauce as well as being area below the Sahara contains these fruits look like apricots,
used as fillings in puddings and more than a dozen related but physically they are more
many more culinary products. species. These attractive trees like tamarinds, with a crisp shell
of the genus Chrysophyllum enclosing a rather flaky greenish
10. Monkey Oranges and Bequaertiodendron pulp that makes good eating.
Three monkey oranges (Family Sapotaceae) create As with tamarinds (see Part
(Strychnos cocculoides, S. their own edible counterparts 1), sweet detars are especially
spinosa, and S. pungens, whose smooth green, purple, enjoyed in West Africa. Most
Strychnaceae) produce fruits apricot, yellow, or copper- are eaten fresh, but some are
that are large, flavorful, easy to coloured skin encloses a white, dried in the sun and sold in the
handle, and often desperately sweet, tasty pulp. This pulp markets like dates. The hard
difficult to find due to is arranged in segments and, shell and dry pulp give them an
overwhelming demand. when cut transversely, typically exceptional shelf life and the
Farmers appreciate the trees so displays the star-shaped seed sweet-and-sour flavor appeals
much that when clearing land arrangement that constitutes the to most every palate.
they spare the ax—even when family crest.
that will hinder their subsequent 14. Tree Grapes
field operations. Of all Africa’s 12. Sugarplums About 40 different trees of
wild fruit trees, these are Africa is home to more than the genus Lannea (Family
the most “conventional” in 30 species of wild fruit trees Anacardiaceae) are to be found
appearance and usage. They belonging to the genus Uapaca in the tropics of Asia and
are similar in size and shape to (Phyllanthaceae; also placed in Africa. The species in Asia have
WWW.MSINGIAFRIKAMAGAZINE.COM ISSUE 25 | MARCH 2024 59
