Corky-bark monkey orange

What it is

This monkey orange is Strychnos cocculoides. Its round fruit measures 1.6 to 7 cm (0.6 to 2.8 in) across, with a smooth, hard shell. The shell starts green with paler patches and turns yellow as it ripens. Numerous hard-coated seeds sit in the juicy flesh. You eat the ripe pulp; the seeds contain toxic substances.

Where it comes from

The tree is native to eastern and southern Africa, including Kenya, Tanzania, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe. It grows in woodland and mixed forest, favouring deep sandy soil on rocky slopes. In Namibia’s Mile 20 village, in Rundu Rural West, gathering and selling the fruit brings households income.

How it's eaten where it grows

In Lower Gwelo and Marondera, Zimbabwe, this fruit and the related Strychnos spinosa go into mutandabota, a maize porridge. Cooks loosen the flesh from the seeds with water, then heat the pulp and stir in maize meal. Peanut butter can flavour the finished porridge. In Lower Gwelo, umcaba pairs the pulp with prepared sorghum instead.

The same two monkey oranges flavour mahewu, a sweet-sour fermented cereal drink. Farther west, in Namibia’s Rundu Rural West, fermented fruit also becomes an alcoholic drink called kashipembe.

How it's grown

The shrub or small tree reaches 2 to 8 m (7 to 26 ft). Its thick, creamy-brown bark is deeply corky and ridged, and sharp spines grow in pairs. Flowers appear in the rainy season; fruit takes eight to nine months to ripen after fertilisation.

People raise young trees in nurseries and plant them on cleared land, around homes and along boundaries. The young plants need protection from fire.

When and where you'll find it

In Lower Gwelo and Marondera, the monkey-orange harvest usually runs from September through December. Fresh fruit feeds household kitchens, while pulp becomes porridge and drinks. In Mile 20 village in Namibia, the fruit is also gathered for sale by local households.