My pretty pony,… sorry, baobab.
Adansonia digitata, baobab
Easy to grow tree, but will get aphids when brought indoors in winter. See AltText for further growing details.
Leaves taste slightly peppery, and are very nice in salads. Can be juiced, cooked and stewed. Also dried, it tastes mildly herbal, tea-like. Can be ground easily into powder for soups and baking.
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#gardening #jardin #GrowYourOwn #organic #plants #plantas #cooking #food
2/ As a young plant, it doesn’t produce many leaves. You can see the proportion I use for my everyday salads below. The baobab leaves are on the bottom left.
Baobab leaves are high in protein and vitamins and minerals. In Africa, a porridge of dried ground leaves is used for weaning babies besides it being a culinary staple. The fruit and seeds (shell is very hard!) are also edible and tasty.
Baobab is known as the Tree of Life.
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This is my larger baobab growing in a larger pot. Baobabs will adapt to the size of the growing space. I harvest leaves mostly from this plant. It is also growing with stones at the bottom and 50% sand. It is a struggle to lift up stairs into the sunroom for its seasonal migration. At these times, I regret all my life decisions.
See AltText for more growing details.
3/ These are just two dishes made with dried ground baobab leaves. They are combined with other leaves bc my plants are still quite young and do not produce very much atm.
@jblue this looks tasty!
@jblue Thanks for sharing, I had no idea baobabs were used for food. I have only heard of them from reading The Little Prince where they are represented only in a negative way.
@HeatherInNZ yeah, Saint-Exupéry totally blasphemes the baobabs.
@jblue There is a wonderful juice that can be made from the fruit of a baobab tree if you get lucky enough for it to bear fruit.
@fulanigirl do you have the recipe? There are African grocery stores that carry the fruit. That’s where I got my seeds. 
They don’t start producing fruits until they’re 15-20yrs old or if you have access to a fruiting tree, 5 years after grafting. I’ve seen some small grafted trees in pots with fruits/flowers so it may be possible. 
@jblue I'll look and see if there is a recipe. I've had the drink in Senegal many times. It's usually plentiful during holidays. Will check around and see if folks in our area have a recipe.
*edit: Spelling
@fulanigirl thanks 
@fulanigirl if you can also ask your friends, there’s another plant that I am having a hard time finding recipes for the leaves even though it is used pretty commonly. It is called Awin, aka black Velvet tamarind, Dialium guineense.
Wikipedia says the leaves are bitter but mine are sweet/tangy like a regular tamarind but with more fiber. Is this normal or is Wikipedia just wrong?
Thanks so much!
@jblue Ok. I will ask around. And oh my gosh the baobab juice recipe is quite complicated!! It takes a powder that comes from the seeds of the fruit and then stuff that will give you a heart attack is added. But the end result is SO good. I'm attaching videos from a Gambian woman and one Senegalese (which is in French sorry). The french version looks like what I've had, but they are basically the same.
https://youtu.be/lfSrDSoSAs4 (En)
https://youtu.be/xB-hTcZh0g8 (FR)
@fulanigirl thanks so much
I talked to a friend today about it and I’ll make it at their house for them since I’m lactose intolerant. I can at least try it and know what it is supposed to taste like before trying to recreate it with vegan substitutes.
I have a fruit that tastes like sweetened condensed milk but there’s also coconut and oatmilk “evaporated/condensed” milks.
Looking forward
@jblue Let me know how it works out.