Planting trees is always a great idea. Trees provide beauty, shade, and wildlife habitat. Fruit trees also provide food and jobs. Let's explore some common African fruit trees and their many benefits.
Breadfruit: A Staple Food
The breadfruit is already well accepted throughout many parts of Asia, Africa, the Caribbean, and Central America. Breadfruit bears a round or oval fruit weighing 4 to 6 pounds, or more. One fruit provides the carbohydrate portion of a meal for a family of six. A mature tree can produce 250 to 300 fruit, up to a half ton of food per year.
Breadfruit is a true tropical tree that was the basis of Polynesian expansion through the Pacific. However, breadfruit trees are difficult to propagate-they don’t grow from seeds. Saplings are often in short supply because the traditional methods of propagating (stem or root cuttings) are slow and unreliable. Improved, predictable techniques of propagation thus greatly increasing the supply of saplings.
Fresh breadfruit has a short shelf life, only a few days. It’s delicious eaten fresh but we recommend drying and processing excess fruit into chips or flour. The processed fruit has a shelf life measured in months or years. There is potential to substantially reduce hunger and reduce the dependence on now expensive imported corn, rice and wheat. The trees are useful as a carbon sequestration sink, allow understory crops and since this is a crop that does not require annual soil plowing, it helps to conserve soil.
Fruiting trees are more likely to be valued and less likely to be cut down. It is ironic that this tree, which was the purpose of Captain Bligh’s famous “Mutiny on the Bounty” voyage, and has the ability to feed so many people, is in decline throughout its range. In Jamaica, for example, there were 2.3 million breadfruit trees in the 1950’s. The number declined to 46,000 by 1986, although numbers have since increased somewhat under a Government program.
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Bread Fruit Farming: A Step by Step Guide
Breadfruit is closely related to A. camansi (breadnut or seeded breadfruit) of New Guinea, the Maluku Islands, and the Philippines, A. blancoi (tipolo or antipolo) of the Philippines, and slightly more distantly to A. mariannensis (dugdug) of Micronesia, all of which are sometimes also referred to as "breadfruit".
Breadfruit trees grow to a height of 26 m (85 ft).[2] The large and thick leaves are deeply cut into pinnate lobes. The trees are monoecious, with male and female flowers growing on the same tree. The male flowers emerge first, followed shortly afterward by the female flowers. The latter grow into capitula, which are capable of pollination just three days later.
Breadfruit is one of the highest-yielding food plants, with a single tree producing up to 200 or more grapefruit-sized fruits per season, requiring limited care. In the South Pacific, the trees yield 50 to 150 fruits per year, usually round, oval, or oblong, and weighing 0.25 to 6.0 kg (0.55 to 13 lb).[3] Productivity varies between wet and dry areas. Studies in Barbados indicate a reasonable potential of 15 to 30 t/ha (6.7 to 13.4 short ton/acre).[2]
The ovoid fruit has a rough surface, and each fruit is divided into many achenes, each surrounded by a fleshy perianth and growing on a fleshy receptacle. Breadfruit is closely related to the breadnut.[3] It is similar in appearance to its relative of the same genus, the jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus). The closely related Artocarpus camansi can be distinguished from A. altilis by having spinier fruits with numerous seeds.
Breadfruit is propagated mainly by seeds, though seedless breadfruit can be propagated by transplanting suckers that grow off the surface roots of the tree.[2] The roots can be purposefully injured to induce the growth of suckers, which are then separated from the root and planted in a pot or directly transplanted into the ground.[2] Pruning also induces sucker growth.[2] Sucker cuttings are placed in plastic bags containing a mixture of soil, peat, and sand, and kept in the shade while moistened with liquid fertilizer.
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A. camansi was domesticated and selectively bred in Polynesia, giving rise to the mostly seedless A. altilis. Micronesian breadfruit also show evidence of hybridization with the native A. mariannensis, while most Polynesian and Melanesian cultivars do not.
Breadfruit is an equatorial, lowland species. The plant grows best below elevations below 650 m (2,130 ft), but is found at elevations of 1,550 m (5,090 ft). Its preferred soils are neutral to alkaline (pH of 6.1-7.4) and either sand, sandy loam, loam, or sandy clay loam. Breadfruit is able to grow in coral sands and saline soils.
Breadfruit is 71% water, 27% carbohydrates, and 1% protein, and contains negligible fat (table). Breadfruit is a staple food in many tropical regions. Most breadfruit varieties produce fruit throughout the year. Both ripe and unripe fruit have culinary uses; unripe breadfruit is cooked before consumption.[14] Before being eaten, the fruit is roasted, baked, fried, or boiled. One breadfruit tree can produce 200 kilograms (450 lb) each season.[15]
Because breadfruit trees usually produce large crops at certain times of the year, the preservation of harvested fruit is an issue. One traditional preservation technique known throughout Oceania is to bury peeled and washed fruits in a leaf-lined pit, where they ferment over several weeks and produce a sour, sticky paste.[16] Stored in this way, the product may endure a year or more.
The seedless breadfruit is found in Brunei, Indonesia, and Malaysia, where it is called sukun. It is commonly made into fritters and eaten as snacks. In the Philippines, breadfruit is known as rimas in Tagalog and kolo in the Visayan languages. It is also called kamansi (also spelled camansi), along with the closely related Artocarpus camansi, and the endemic Artocarpus blancoi (tipolo or antipolo). All three species, as well as the closely related jackfruit, are commonly used much in the same way in savory dishes.
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In the Hawaiian staple food called poi, the traditional ingredient of mashed taro root can be replaced by, or augmented with, mashed breadfruit (ʻulu in Hawaiian). In Sri Lanka, it is cooked as a curry using coconut milk and spices (which becomes a side dish) or boiled. Boiled breadfruit is a famous main meal. It is often consumed with scraped coconut or coconut sambol, made of scraped coconut, red chili powder, and salt mixed with a dash of lime juice. A traditional sweet snack made of finely sliced, sun-dried breadfruit chips deep-fried in coconut oil and dipped in heated treacle or sugar syrup is known as rata del petti.[21]
In India, fritters of breadfruit, called jeev kadge phodi in Konkani or kadachakka varuthath in Malayalam, are a local delicacy in coastal Karnataka and Kerala. In Seychelles, it was traditionally eaten as a substitute for rice, as an accompaniment to the mains. It would either be consumed boiled (friyapen bwi) or grilled (friyapen griye), where it would be put whole in the wood fire used for cooking the main meal and then taken out when ready.
In Belize, the Mayan people call it masapan. In Puerto Rico, breadfruit is called panapén or pana, for short, although the name pana is often used to refer to breadnut, seeds of which have traditionally been boiled, peeled, and eaten whole. In some inland regions, it is also called mapén and used to make pasteles and alcapurrias. Breadfruit is often served boiled with a mixture of sauteed bacalao (salted cod fish), olive oil, and onions, mostly as tostones where about 1-inch chunks are fried, lighty flattened, and fried again.
Mofongo de panapén is fried breadfruit mashed with olive oil, garlic, broth, and chicharrón. Rellenos de panapén is the breadfruit version of papa rellena. Dipping sauce can be made from boiled, ripe breadfruit, similar to chutney, using spices, sesame seeds, herbs, lentil, coconut milk, and fruit. Both ripe and unripe fruit are boiled together and mashed with milk and butter to make pastelón de panapén, a dish similar to lasagna. Ripe breadfruit is used in desserts, including flan de pana (breadfruit custard). Cazuela is a crustless pie with ripe breadfruit, spices, raisins, coconut milk, and sweet potatoes. Breadfruit flour is sold all over Puerto Rico and used for making bread, pastries, cookies, pancakes, waffles, crepes, and almojábana.
In the Dominican Republic, it is called buen pan or "good bread". Breadfruit is not popular in Dominican cookery and is used mainly for feeding pigs. In Barbados, breadfruit is boiled with salted meat and mashed with butter to make breadfruit coucou. It is usually eaten with saucy meat dishes. In Haiti, steamed breadfruit is mashed to make a dish called tonmtonm which is eaten with a sauce made with okra and other ingredients, such as fish and crab. In Jamaica, breadfruit is boiled in soups or roasted on stove top, in the oven or on wood coal. It is eaten with the national dish ackee and salt fish. In St. Vincent and the Grenadines, it is eaten boiled in soups, roasted, and fried. Roasted breadfruit, served with fried jackfish, is the country's national dish.
Breadfruit was widely used in a variety of ways among Pacific Islanders. Breadfruit contains phytochemicals having potential as an insect repellent.[23][24] The parts of the fruits that are discarded can be used to feed livestock. Breadfruit, however, exudes latex upon harvesting, causing the plant sap to adhere to the surface, leading to the staining of the epicarp. On Puluwat in the Caroline Islands, in the context of sacred yitang lore, breadfruit (poi) is a figure of speech for knowledge.
According to an etiological Hawaiian myth, the breadfruit originated from the sacrifice of the war god Kū. After deciding to live secretly among mortals as a farmer, Kū married and had children. He and his family lived happily until a famine seized their island. When he could no longer bear to watch his children suffer, Kū told his wife that he could deliver them from starvation, but to do so he would have to leave them. Reluctantly she agreed, and at her word, Kū descended into the ground right where he had stood until only the top of his head was visible. His family waited around the spot he had last been, day and night, watering it with their tears until suddenly, a small green shoot appeared where Kū had stood.
Many breadfruit hybrids and cultivars are widely distributed throughout the Pacific though they are seedless or otherwise biologically incapable of naturally dispersing long distances. It is therefore clear that humans aided distribution of the plant in the Pacific, specifically prehistoric groups who colonized the Pacific Islands. To investigate the patterns of human migration throughout the Pacific, scientists have used molecular dating of breadfruit hybrids and cultivars in concert with anthropological data.
Mango: The King of Tropical Fruits
Mango is a fruit belonging to the cashew family that grows in tropical regions throughout the world. It serves as a main food of many people in tropical countries and is often called the king of tropical fruits. Mangoes are eaten fresh or used in making desserts, preserves, chutneys, pickles, curries and drinks. In India, flour is made from mango seeds.
The mango tree is an evergreen that grows about 70 to 130 feet (21 to 40 meters ) tall, with a crown radius up to 33 feet (10 meters). It has long, slender leaves that are orange-pink when young, turning glossy red to dark green when mature. The small pinkish-white flowers have a mild sweet fragrance. Fruit develops from the ovaries of the blossoms and ripens about five months after the flowers bloom.
Ripe fruit varies in size and color. Most mangoes are kidney-shaped, oval or round, depending on the variety. They vary from about two to 10 inches (five to 25 centimeters) in length and from two ounces to five pounds (57 grams to 2.3 kilograms) in weight. Mangoes have a smooth, thin, leathery skin that surrounds a juicy, yellow or orange pulp and a hard inner pit. The skin may be green, purple, or various shades of orange, red, or yellow.
Many mangoes have tough fibers in their pulp, and some of the fruits have an unpleasant turpentine-like odor. Mangoes were first cultivated about 4,000 years ago in South and Southeast Asia. During the 1700s and 1800s, European explorers brought mangoes from India to other tropical countries. for the first time in about 1900 in Florida. Today, they are grown commercially in such countries as Pakistan, China, Thailand, Brazil, India, Mexico, Indonesia and the Philippines.
Mango is the national fruit of India, where 1,000 commercial varieties are grown, and it is the national tree of Bangladesh.
Moringa: A Multipurpose Tree
Many people believe that the Moringa trees have great potential to combat extreme poverty and hunger. The nutritious leaves grow quickly, in many different environment types, and can feed people, as well as livestock and sanctuary animals. The leaves contain complete proteins, which is rare for a plant. According to Dr. K. Shaine Tyson of Rocky Mountain Biodiesel Consulting, the defatted meal contains 60% protein, 40% more than soy meal.
The high protein leaves can be used as animal fodder and together with the defatted meals, have been shown to increase weight gain in animals by 32% and milk production by 42-55%. Moringa can provide oil for making biofuels. The seeds contain 30-50% oil, or 112-185 gal/acre/year. Moringa is drought resistant and can be grown in a wide variety of poor soils, even barren ground, with soil pH between 4.5 and 9.0.
The Moringa Oleifera species is said to have originated in the Himalayas, but although the current cultivars can withstand frost, they do not generally survive a hard freeze.
Cashew: Nutritious and Versatile
The cashew is a tropical evergreen tree native to Brazil. The Portuguese took it to India in the mid 1500’s, and it eventually spread to Southeast Asia and Africa. Today major producers are Nigeria, Vietnam, and India. Tropical and frost sensitive, the cashew grows best in regions between 25*N and 25*S latitudes. It has a well-developed root system and can tolerate drought conditions as well as sandy soils unsuitable for other fruit trees, but it will not grow in poorly drained soils.
This tree has a short trunk and wide branch spread, growing up to 14 meters (46 feet) in height. It blossoms from November to January. Seedling trees flower in the third year, and fruit ripens within 2 months. Seeds (nuts) germinate within four days when lying on wet soil.
The true fruit of the plant is a kidney-shaped drupe that grows at the end of the cashew apple. The cashew nut is inside the drupe. When raw, the cashew seed, which we call the nut, is soft, white and meaty. When roasted it changes color and taste. The seed is surrounded by a double shell that contains a toxic allergen related to poison ivy. Properly roasting destroys the toxin, and cashews then are a less frequent allergen than most other nuts. They are a popular snack and food source.
Unlike other oily nuts, cashews contain starch and are an effective thickening agent and a source of antioxidants. Cashew oil is used in cooking and salad dressing. The shell of the nut is used in lubricants and paints. Cashew trees are hardy and easy to grow. They have large leaves and fragrant pink flowers that produce highly nutritious fruit. The nuts keep well inside their shells and can be stored for up to two years.
Ackee: A Jamaican Staple
Ackee is the national fruit of Jamaica. It is a familiar, delicious, staple dish when served with fish, or sometimes bacon. Its name is derived from the West African name Akye fufo, which is where the fruit is native. It was brought to Jamaica during the 18th century, along with other fruit, to feed the people.
The ackee tree is an evergreen related to the lychee and the longan. It grows up to 25 feet tall with a short trunk and a dense crown. The leaves are a light, almost luminous green. The fruit has a red outer skin, bright yellow exposed flesh, and black seeds. The fruit is about the size and shape of a pear. As it ripens , it turns from green to a bright red to a yellow-orange, and splits open to reveal three large, shiny black seeds, surrounded by soft, creamy or spongy, white to yellow flesh called the arilli.
This is the edible part of the fruit and is only safely edible after it has split open and cooked. Occasionally one hears of an unwise consumer of the unripe fruit who suffers from vomiting due to certain unusual amino acids. Ackee is considered a fruit but is cooked and used as vegetable. To prepare Ackee the arils are cleaned and washed. Commercial canning makes the fruit available year-round and also serves as a major export product for Jamaica.
In years past, the US government restricted importation of canned ackee but with improved quality control restrictions were lifted. The ackee tree grows true to form from seeds.
Other Notable African Fruit Trees
Besides the above mentioned, there are many other common african fruit trees, including:
- Guava
- Tamarind
- Marula
- Black plum
- Monkey oranges
Nutritional Values of Common African Fruits (per 100g)
The following table shows the approximate nutritional values for some of the fruits discussed:
| Fruit | Calories | Carbohydrates | Protein | Fat | Fiber |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Breadfruit | 103 | 27g | 1g | 0.2g | 4.9g |
| Mango | 60 | 15g | 0.8g | 0.4g | 1.6g |
| Cashew Nut | 553 | 30g | 18g | 44g | 3.3g |
Note: Nutritional values can vary based on the specific variety and growing conditions.
