Grandidier baobab fruit

What it is

Grandidier's baobab, Adansonia grandidieri, has oval to almost round fruit with a fragile shell covered in reddish-brown hairs. Many kidney-shaped seeds sit inside with the edible pulp. This is a separate species from the mainland African baobab, Adansonia digitata.

Mixed with water and sugar, its powder makes a cloudy nectar with fine particles that settle at the bottom. The sweetened drink has a tamarind-like aroma.

Where it comes from

The tree grows naturally only in southwestern Madagascar, from just north of Morondava to just north of Morombe. Its home is lowland dry forest, often beside rivers and waterholes. Most mature trees now stand on degraded farmland. Locally it is called renala or reniala: mother of the forest.

How it's eaten where it grows

In southwestern Madagascar, people eat the pulp straight from the fruit and extract cooking oil from the seeds. Mixed with water, the white, floury pulp makes a refreshing drink.

In Menabe, community groups turn Grandidier-baobab pulp into powder for sale. They handle the whole route from collecting the fruit through processing and marketing, making the harvest a source of local income.

How it's grown

The tree has a massive, cylindrical trunk with smooth reddish-grey bark and a flat crown. It grows easily from seed, and young trees can reach 2 m (6½ ft) in two years. Flowers open around dusk at the ends of leafless branches, and fruit bats and fork-marked lemurs come to them. Harvesters gather fallen fruit or pick it from the tree.

When and where you'll find it

In southwestern Madagascar, ripe fruit usually comes in November and December, at the end of the dry season. Menabe's community harvest runs from October through December, with powder-making starting in January. Whole fruit is the local harvest form; powder is the form prepared for sale by these community groups.