Monday, August 11, 2008

Baobab use goes beyond fruits

BAOBAB USE GOES BEYOND FRUITS

Baobab fruit is known for its nutritional properties and delicious taste. Some may query whether there is any other useful part of the baobab tree?

The entire baobab tree has been used in its various parts for many years across Africa. Its leaves, fruit, seeds and trunk all provide a variety of uses - including water storage, medicine, oils, and clothes.

Photo courtesy of giamplume

Food products from the baobab

Many parts of the baobab are edible. The fruit is mixed with water and drunk as lemonade or dissolved into milk and used as a drink, and is also enjoyed raw. Beyond the fruit, the seeds can be eaten raw or roasted and made into coffee, and they yield an edible oil. The leaves can be made into spinach or eaten as relish and the fruit dissolved in milk or water and used as a drink. In Senegal, baobab pulp is mostly used to make a drink called Bouye, a milky, tart juice made by boiling the pulp and seeds together with water and sugar.

The citric and tartaric acids found in the pulp provide the base for cream of tartar, often used as a baking ingredient. Other uses for tartar include a milk-curdling agent and a yoghurt or ice-cream flavoring.

* Baobab pulp has many food applications, including the basis for cream of tartar.
* Baobab seeds and leaves are also prepared and eaten.

Uses of the baobab tree?

Some baobab trees, which are 80% water, are hollow and have been used as bars, shops and even prisons. The trunk is often home to bats and snakes, and even humans. A district commissioner in Zambia once set up his office inside, and a tree still standing in Western Australia was used to imprison Aboriginal convicts in the 1890s.

The bark is stewed to wash newborn babies to give them strength, but some people in Zambia believe eating baobab attracts crocodiles and therefore fisherman may avoid it. The bark can be used to make rope. In some African cultures, the pulp has also been used as an ingredient in traditional cosmetics.

* Baobab trunks are sometimes hollow and can be used as shelters.
* The bark can be used for rope and medicine and the pulp can be used for cosmetics.

The baobab tree produces many usable products from its fruit, bark, leaves and seeds. Recent focus has been on products derived from baobab fruit pulp, and the hope is that this burgeoning industry will provide jobs and money for many Africans in the coming years.

My related posts:

* New king of the superfruits? A look at the baobab

1 comments:

Unknown said...

They have also used the outer shell of the fruit as "Marakas" in there traditional African music, filled with either pebbles or seeds.