Fruitsfun: Marula (Sclerocarya birrea)

Marula (Sclerocarya birrea)

The Marula Fruit is very juicy and aromatic and is the size of a small plum. It may be eaten fresh and the flesh has an extremely high vitamin C content. It may also be cooked to produce jam, juices and alcoholic beverages.

Fruitsfun: Kei Apple

Kei Apple

The kei apple,Dovyalis caffra  Warb. (syn.Aberia caffra  Harv. & Sond.) is also known as umkokolo in Africa and this is abbreviated to umkolo in the Philippines. The generic name has been rendered Doryalis by many writers but botanists now agree that this form was not the original spelling.

           The aromatic fruit is oblate or nearly round, 1 to 1 1/2 in (2.5-4 cm) long, with bright-yellow, smooth but minutely downy, somewhat tough skin, and mealy, apricot-textured, juicy, highly acid flesh. There are 5 to 15 seeds arranged in double rings in the center. They are flat, pointed and surrounded by threadlike fibers. The tree is spectacular when its branches are laden with these showy fruits.

Fruitsfun: Imbe (Garcinia Livingstonia)

Imbe (Garcinia Livingstonia)

Originating in Africa, this tree bears a small plum like fruit bright orange in colour. A thin layer of acid-sweet watery pulp surrounds the seed. The rather tender skin tends to prevent packing and shipping of the fruit, but it deserves to be more widely cultivated as a home fruit. Hardy to most conditions. Dark green leathery leaves and ornamental structure make it appealing as an interesting and edible landscape plant. Grows to a bush or small tree to 4-6 m.  Imbes have good salt tollerance and are also wind tollerant.  Trees are dioecious, so one of each a male and female are needed for pollination and fruit set.   Plant a minimum of 3 seedlings to increase the chances of having one of each.  Isolated female trees will set a few small fruit parthenocarpically but the quality and size is always better with a male pollinator.

Fruitsfun: Junglesop

Junglesop

Anonodium mannii (Junglesop) is a fast-growing tropical African tree that grows to 8–30 m high, with a girth of up to 2 m. It has 20–40 cm long leaves and large flowers which produce edible fruits generally around 4–6 kg, but which can be up to around 15 kg.Fruit flavor is rich but variable and is sometimes described assn acquired taste, though the fruits are generally in high demand in Africa, with large fruits commanding high prices. The fruit is favorite with local people (who refer to it as "bobo" and other primates, especially bonobos.

Fruitsfun: Indian jujube

Indian Jujube

Anyone here ordered an Indian jujube and have fruits? I'm wondering if this fruit from Florida is sweet or not. I ordered a tree from Top and I know the Indian jujube I ate in Vietnam and China were sweet and oblong shape. The one they're selling in FL is round. I'm wondering if PI Indian jujube the same as the one from Top. Somehow the picture of the jujube from PI is oblong but the Top jujube is round. Both are thornless. Mike from Top say it's a sweet fruit...but i bought the round one from the supermarket and they were bland. Maybe the one from the market was picked too soon?

Fruitsfun: Horned melon

Cucumis metuliferus (African Horned Melon)

Cucumis metuliferus,horned melon or kiwano, also African horned cucumber or melon, jelly melon, hedged gourd, melano, in the southeastern United States, blowfish fruit, is an annual  vine in the cucumber and melon family,Cucurbitaceae . Its fruit has horn -like spines , hence the name "horned melon". Ripe fruit has yellow-orange skin and lime green, jelly-like flesh with a tart taste, and texture similar to a cucumber. 

                  

Fruitsfun: Gingerbread Plum

Gingerbread Plum (Mobola Plum)

The fruits are plum-sized and are firm like a crisp apple. The most common of the gingerbread plum trees is the mobola plum (Parinari curatellifolia), and it is indigenous to the low-lying woodlands and savannahs of Southern and tropical Africa.

Gemsbok cucumber

Gemsbok cucumber

Acanthosicyos naudinianus, known as the Gemsbok cucumber, is a perennial African melon with edible fruits and seeds. The plant is green, and the flowers are yellow. The fruit is edible, but eating it before it is ripe will cause a burning sensation in one's mouth. It is not poisonous, but it can be combined with the blood of the larva of the Diamphidia beetle to produce a poison which can be used to make poison arrow.

African Fan Palm( Deleb Palm)

African Fan Palm (Deleb Palm)

Borassus aethiopum is found in Benin, Burkina, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Ethiopia, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Northern Provinces, Senegal, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zaire, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Found across sub-Saharan Africa as far south as northern South Africa. Absent from parts of southwest and central Africa, and the Horn of Africa. Present on a number of offshore islands including São Tomé and Bioko in the Gulf of Guinea, three of the Cape Verde Islands, and Pemba, Zanzibar and Mayotte in the Mozambique Channel. Present in the Sambirano region of northwest Madagascar, including the islands of Nosy Bé and Nosy Mitsiou, though it may be introduced there.

             Family: Arecaceae Vernacular/common names: African fan palm, ron palm, elephant palm, deleb palm, black rhun palm. Local names: sebe (Bambara) and koanga (Mooré, Burkina). Related species of interest :Borassus aethiopum, whose petioles are yellow and the fruits are yellow-or- ange when ripe.

Coffee

Coffee

Everyone recognizes a roasted coffee bean but unless you have lived or traveled in a coffee growing country, you might not recognize an actual coffee tree.   Pruned short in cultivation, but capable of growing more than 30 feet high, a coffee tree is covered with dark-green, waxy leaves growing opposite each other in pairs.  Coffee cherries grow along the tree's branches.  It takes nearly a year for a cherry to mature after the flowering of the fragrant, white blossoms.  Because it grows in a continuous cycle, it is not unusual to see flowers, green fruit and ripe fruit simultaneously on a single tree. The trees can live as long as 20 - 30 years and are capable of growing in a wide range of climates, as long as there is no harsh fluctuation in temperature.  Optimally, they prefer a rich soil and mild temperatures, with frequent rain and shaded sun. 

Coco de mer

Coco de mer

 Lodoicea, commonly known as the sea coconut, coco de mer, or double coconut, is a monotypic genus in the palm family. The sole species, Lodoicea maldivica, is endemic  to the islands of Praslin  and Curieuse  in the Seychelles . It formerly also was found on the small islets of St Pierre, Chauve-Souris and Ile Ronde (Round Island), all located near Praslin, but has become extinct there. The name of the genus, Lodoicea, is derived from Lodoicus, the Latinised  form of Louis, in honour of King Louis XV of France .

Calabash

Calabash

The calabash or bottle gourd, Lagenaria siceraria (synonym Lagenaria vulgaris Ser.), also known as opo squash or long melon, is avine  grown for its fruit, which can either be harvested young and used as a vegetable, or harvested mature, dried, and used as a bottle, utensil, or pipe. The fresh fruit has a light-green smooth skin and a white flesh. Rounder varieties are called calabash gourds.

                          They grow in a variety of shapes: they can be huge and rounded, small and bottle shaped, or slim and serpentine, more than a meter long. Because bottle gourds are also called   "calabashes", they are sometimes confused with the hard, hollow fruits of the unrelated calabash tree,Crescentia cujete whose fruits are also used to make utensils, containers, and musical instruments.The gourd was one of the first cultivated plants in the world, grown not primarily for food, but for use as water containers. The bottle gourd may have been carried from Africa to Asia, Europe, and the Americas in the course of human migration or by seeds floating across the oceans inside the gourd. It has been proven to be in the New World prior to the arrival of Columbus.

Aizen

Aizen

Aizen is a fruit from Africa.  It grows wild in Algeria, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Somalia, Sudan  and Togo.  It appears that aizel originated in this part of the world only. Aizen bears small cherry sized fruits which are sweet.  These are eaten fresh.  The fruits can also be dried and form a caramel like substance.

Kiggelaria africana ( Wild African Peach)

Kiggelaria Africana ( Wild African Peach)

 Kiggelaria Africana(also known as the wild peach or umKokoko) is a large, robust, low-branching African tree and is currently the only accepted species in the genus. 

Despite its common name, Kiggelaria africana is not related to the more familiar fruit-producing Peach  tree Prunus persica) although the leaves do look similar, if only very superficially. Unlike peach leaves, they are fairly thick and stiff, with a thin coating of fur on the undersides.

A well-shaped, robust, ever green with grey-green leaves. The smooth bark is pale grey in colour and the tree tends to be low-branching. The Wild Peach is dioecious (having separate male and female trees) and its tiny flowers are bell-shaped and a yellowish colour. The flowers are followed later in the summer by round, green capsules. These split open once ripe and the seeds, which are each covered in a layer of bright orange-red flesh, are eaten and spread by birds.

This tree grows across southern and eastern Africa - from Cape town in the south, northwards as far as Kenya. It occurs naturally in Afromontane forests  as well as by the coast, in bushveld and along rivers.

African medlar

African medlar

African medlar is a traditional food plant that has deciduous shrub or small tree with a varying height from 3-7 m, based on the habitat. Unlike other fruit types, it is not found all year long. The edible fruit has a pleasant sweet-sour, mealy taste similar to apple.

The African medlar is from the Rubiaceae family. Native to the southern and eastern Afrotropics, its fruits have a pleasant apple like flavor. The corolla being dropped earlier, they are carried on opposite and axillary cymes. The tree produces a velvety like flower that are just about 4 mm long and 6 mm wide. They grow into unevenly- shaped, lustrous, tan-colored plums that are full of soft fleshy pulp and fairly large seeds.

Irvingia gabonensis (African Mango)

Irvingia gabonensis (African Mango)

Irvingia gabonensis (IG) is the Latin name of the tree grown in Central and West Africa that produces a fruit similar to a mango and nicknamed African mango, wild mango, dika nut, or bush mango.In areas where IG grows, its flesh is widely eaten. But it's the seed or nut (fresh or dried) that contains the supposedly powerful ingredients. Sold almost exclusively online, the seed extract comes in powder, liquid, and capsules.

African Custard-Apple

African Custard-Apple

African Custard apple is a native to Western and Southern African ranging from Senegal to South Africa.The fruits are eaten in large quantities by the local people.Wild trees of are mostly found in semi-arid to subhumid regions occurring  along riverbanks, fallow land, swamp forests and at the coast.

Ackee

Ackee

You have to commend the bravery of whoever first tried these strange-looking fruits. The ackee is sometimes called a "vegetable brain" because only the inner, brain-shaped, yellowish arils are edible. Native to tropical West Africa, this fruit has been imported and cultivated in Jamaica, Haiti and Cuba and is incorporated into some Caribbean cuisine.

African Cherry Orange ( Citrus Articulata)

African Cherry Orange (Citrus Articulata)

The African cherry orange, Citropsis articulata, also known as the West African cherry orange or Uganda cherry orange (locally as omuboro) is a small citrus fruit about the size of a tangerine. The plant is endemic to Central and Western Africa, and used primarily for eating and in African traditional herbal medicine.

Acerola

Acerola

Acerola is a fruit. It is rich in vitamin C, and also contains vitamin A thiamine, riboflavin, and niacin. People use it for medicine.Acerola is used to treat or prevent scurvy, a disease caused by vitamin C deficiency. Acerola is also used for preventing heart disease “hardening of the arteries  (atherosclerosis), blood clots and cancer.

Acai berry

Acai berry

The acai berry is an inch-long, reddish-purple fruit. It comes from the acai palm tree, which is native to Central and South America.