Food: Fruit from Baobab Tree

Seed pod, exposed seeds, a few seeds that have been sucked dry, and a phone for scale. 

I've already written about the iconic Baobab tree but one thing I overlooked was the fruit. I had tried the juice made from the fruit and I have seen the seeds both on the tree and on the ground but I had never actually thought about eating the seed.

The area I am living has a large amount of Baobab trees and thus some of our local staff have recently shown us how to consume the fruit. The Baobab tree has a large, woody, oval pod that is covered with fine velvety hairs. It can be over 20cm long and is quite strong so to open it you can step on it with quite some force. Inside are numerous black seeds that are embedded in an off-white, crumbly pulp that is divided into sections with some fibrous red hairs. Separating the seeds is relatively easy and you can pop them in your mouth and suck on them to get a lightly tart taste reminiscent of something rich in vitamin C (which it is). It leaves a strange texture in your mouth, a kind of “fuzziness” that I find challenging to describe, kind of chalky and gritty. I think it's one of those foods that leaves a funny feeling that is remedied by eating more of it, thus creating a cycle.

You can also make juice by simply soaking the seeds in the water overnight and filtering the seeds out, adding sugar to taste. The fruit is apparently very high in vitamin C and locally it is believed that it helps to reduce thirst when out in the bush. There is a caveat to this local belief though; I find it DOES reduce thirst by generating more saliva, but this actually then leads to me being more dehydrated overall. Still, I'm not sure it will be a matter of life and death so I'm always pleased to pop a few seeds!

Clear look of the insides