This piece is long overdue – sigh but finally, it’s here. Agbalumo is out of season but still…the words, the thought, the ideas remain evergreen! Thank you, Akay xxx I grew up in an Igbo household in Lagos. And while steeped in Igbo culture, I have always been around and influenced by Yoruba culture. I...
Tag: Agbalumo recipes
A Visual [Botanical?] Guide to Varieties of Agbalumo
It might surprise you – like it did I – that there are different varieties (or cultivars/ cultivated varieties?) of Agbalumo, distinct in shape, colour and size. Many factors come into play in describing fruit. On the basis of a number of observations, I dare say I can identify at least 6 varieties – here we...
A Theory: Why Agbalumo is Sweeter After the Rains
Read on. For years, I’ve heard, read, experienced sweeter agbalumos after the first rains. My most recent memory is from 2015. We’re driving in the car one day and we stop to buy some. A, my adopted daughter says: ‘There are always a few rains before ‘Agbalumo’ proper comes into season’ And I responded, ‘Hmmm, I didn’t...
Protected: In the Middle: With my Agbalumo Wine
There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.
Protected: In the Beginning: The Making of Agbalumo Wine
There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.
Nigerian Seasonal Produce: Udara [Agbalumo, African Star Apple], #2
‘Nigerian Seasonal Produce’ is a monthly column which will be published on the last Saturday of every month. In this column, a writer explores a specific seasonal fruit, vegetable or leafy green assigned by the editors of Kitchen Butterfly and based on the Nigerian Seasonal Produce Calendar. Our author this month is Keside Anosike – writer extraordinary who teases me...
#Starapple, HashtagStarapple & Lessons in Processing Agbalumo
There are many reasons I love technology and social media – hashtags are one of them. Hashtags are the strongest indication that we are similar in all the ways we are different. A few months ago, I hashtagged a photo on instagram, #starapple and then I clicked on it and discovered a whole world out...
Matrimony – An Agbalumo (Star Apple) Fruit Salad From Jamaica
It’s the season of my favourite ‘fruit to explore’ – Agbalumo aka the African star apple. The star apple is found in many Caribbean and South East Asian countries, including Jamaica. Around the world in star apples Around the world in star apple names Why am I so intrigued about this fruit one might wonder?...
True or False: Thou Shalt Not Pluck Fruit from the Agbalumo/ Star Apple Tree?
It’s agbalumo season people! Have you ever seen an agbalumo tree? Well, yes, I have! Thanks to my friend Tomi who showed me one in Lagos, Nigeria :). What does it look like? Well it towered above two floors, several tens of feet tall. Tree trunks twisted and mangled, leaves lush and green, like those...