ARTICLE 43: AFRICAN WALNUT

By S. Olanrewaju Disu

The African Walnut is an annual agricultural product. It is widely cultivated in the South-West zone of Nigeria i.e. the Yoruba speaking areas. It is a popular farm product among peasant farmers, who inherit wlanut farms from their parents and pass them over to their own children.

The African walnut is locally called "asala" or "awusa". The fruit is capsular in shape and contains sub-globular seeds. The African has a thin, brown shell that resembles that of the temperate walnut.

The botanical name of the African walnut is "Tetracarpidium conophorum, family Euphorbiaceae". It is also known botanically as "plukenetia conophora'

The African Walnut's seed kernel is edible. It is cooked by steaming in water, the way eggs are boiled hard before eating. If eaten raw, the seed kernel has a bitter flavour and is considered to be tonic. The kernels are oil bearing. Locally, the oil has medicinal value in massages. The cake left after expression of the oil contains protein, which has local uses for food. The kernel is also a good source of vitamins.

Because of the above, people eagerly await the annual arrival of African Wlanuts in our lagos Markets. Interestingly, the harvesting period coincides with the full fledged arrival of maize and the rains. Middle men usually purchase the fruits from the hintherland farms and transport them into "Mile 12" wholesale market. Retailers then purchase them and bring them into urban markets. frequently, street hawkers sell them in cooked form to the populace

PHOTOS

(A) The African Walnut

(B) Freshly cooked walnuts on sale at the Oshodi Market, a very boisterous section of lagos Metropolis

ARTICLE 44: SWEET POTATOE

By: S. Olanrewaju Disu

In the Lagos Area Markets, the sweet potatoe is jokingly called the "yam of lagos people". More often than not, the sweet potatoe is purchased and prepared in various forms before being eaten by the populace. Often, it might be cooked and eaten as a vegetable.

The sweet potatoe is the large, thick, sweet and meaty tuberous root of the tropical vine of the same name, with variously shaped leaves and purplish flowers. Botanically, sweet potatoe is called "Ipomoea batatus, Family convolvulaceae" The plant is propagated by stem cutting or vines. It requires fertile, loamy and well drained soils. It does not tolerate unifertile and poor soils. Its planting startswith the onset of the rains until July. The tubers are then harvested when fully formed within three to five months.

Sweet potatoe tubers are rich in starch, However, little or no use is made industrially of the sweet potatoe starch. Vitamins are present, particularly in the yellow-fleshed variety illustrated at the end of this article.

Because of poor storage quality, other root crops e.g. yam and coco-yam, are sometimes more preferred by the populace except the affluent who can afford large refridgerators with storage spaces for uncooked perishable food stuffs.

Daily food sellers make brisk business when sweet potatoe are in season. In addition to being cooked and eaten as vegetable, sweet potatoes are fried for sale by road side food sellers. More sophisticated entreprenuers make them into local "French fries" and potato chips and these are hygenically peacked too. Some other companies process them into flour.

Photograph:

Sweet potatoe tubers

Article 42 : MELON.

By S. Olanrewaju Disu .

The melon is an important agricultural product not only in Lagos Area, but also across the border, stretching to West African markets. The melon, which is locally called “egusi”, is botanically known as “Citrullus lanatus, Family cucurbitaceae”, i.e., a plant of the gourd family.

The gourd, from which melon seeds are extracted, is locally called “bara”. It is widely cultivated in Yoruba-speaking south-west part of Nigeria. The processing of the melon-gourd before it finally arrives at the market as melon seeds is laborious. The ripe melon-gourd { the “bara”} is cut up and the fruits are stacked in heaps or buried during the rains and the seed later recovered after the flesh has rotten off. The seeds are then generally sun-dried for marketing.

The uses of melon seeds are diverse. Culturally, the Yoruba’s invoke the melon fruit as an incantation for the good delivery of a pregnant woman. Nutritionally, melon seeds are mainly roasted and made into a pulp which is added to soup or made into a sauce or a porridge; the oil may be extracted for use in cooking.

A special ethnic food and flavor, called “ogiri”, is made from the fermented kernels. Another local delicacy, called “igbalo”, is made from melon seeds that are roasted, pounded, wrapped in a leaf and then boiled.

As mentioned earlier, melon-seeds contain oil, and these oil have several uses: soap-making, medicinal uses, etc. Oil from the best seeds are called “ororo-egusi”, i.e., melon-oil , and they are chiefly used in cooking. The cake left after expression of the oil is a good feed for ruminants.

Photographs:
(A)---- Dried melon seeds.

( B )---- Melon seeds on retail sale at the “Idimu Market”.

Article 41 : Coco- yam .

By S. Olanrewaju Disu.

The coco-yam is the edible root-tuber of the coco-yam plant. The coco-yam plant is a stout herbaceous plant with a whorl of erect leaves. The plant flourishes in damp forest sites as well as urban orchards. It is cultivated all over southern Nigeria. The coco-yam has numerous varieties, differing in shape, size, colour of the flesh of the tuber, food value, etc., and in cultural needs. It is an 8 – 18 months crop, requiring constant humidity and a high rainfall. Also, it is tolerant of poor drainage.

In Lagos Area, coco-yam is not usually available in all markets. Big markets, e.g., the “Ikotun Market” and the “Mushin Market” as well as weekly markets, e.g., the Weekly Farmers Market at Sabo, Ikorodu, sell coco-yams. However, coco-yams could be purchased all-year round. This is because improved strains of the product flood the market when they are in season. Moreover, coco-yams do not spoil quickly like yam-tubers.

Indigenes of the state call the product “koko”. Botanically, coco-yam is called “Colocasia esculenta, Family Araceae”.

There are several food values of the coco-yam. Different ethnic groups in the state use the product for variety of meals. Some cook it as high quality meal – e.g., porridge with good food seasonings and dried fish or meat. Some make coco-yam into “foo-foo”, and a particular ethnic group from a neighbouring state to Lagos State use it to make a special delicacy called “ebiripo”.

On the commercial side, there are several local food-sellers who set up fry-ing units at city-junctions and roadsides, selling fried coco-yams. We also have more sophisticated caterers making coco-yam chips for sale to the populace. On the medical side, it is locally alledged that eating of coco-yam as a carbohydrate source leads to a marked reduction in dental caries. A good agricultural product, indeed!

Photographs:

Freshly harvested coco-yams on sale at the “Mushin Market”.

Article 40 : PALM – FRUITS .

By S. Olanrewaju Disu.

Palm – fruits are usually on sale in most Lagos Area markets all – year round. Though it takes the palm-fruit 3-7 years to mature after planting, its harvesting is continually carried out for 25-30 years! The fruits are formed in a bunch at the top of the oil-palm tree. Ripe bunches of palm-fruits are harvested when the fruits are red or dark-red in color.

The palm fruit is called a “drupe”. A drupe is a one-seeded fruit having a hard bony endocarp, a fleshy mesocarp, and a thin epicarp that is flexible or dry and almost leathery. Palm fruits are processed into palm oil and palm kernels. The oil is obtained from the mesocarp and the kernel from the endocarp. Some inhabitants of Lagos Area use the entire fruit in cooking!

Oil palm, from which we obtain palm-fruits, is botanically called “Elaeis guineensis”, and it belongs to the family called “palmea” – i.e. the palm family. Virtually all the tropical rain-forest belt of southern Nigeria support cultivation of the palm family. Therefore, there are always palm fruits for commercial and lesser-scale domestic uses.

Though there are several ethnic groups living in Lagos Metropolitan Area, people who hail from the eastern parts of the country buy, sell and consume palm-fruits more than any other ethnic groups. Apart from them, industries purchase palm-fruits on a large scale directly from farms and process them, extract oil from them which serves as raw-material in the manufacture of soap, margarine, etc., etc.

Illustrative Photographs:

A--- Palm-fruits on sale at the “Ejigbo Market”.

B--- Palm-oil, which is extracted from palm-fruits, on sale at the “Ejigbo Market”.