BY Dr MICHELINA ANDREUCCI
Forests in Zimbabwe are a spring of spiritual guidance and played a very critical role for the livelihood and sustenance of indigenous people through the provision of wild fruits, honey, animals and other forests provisions, for instance, roots and fungi such as mushrooms.
The beauty of wild fruit is that it provides nutrition and even hygienic practices for animals and humans.
For instance, in order for the elephant to scratch its back it needed the baobab or the Hwenyanguruve the ‘scratch tree’ for wild hogs, with their gnarled trunks to scratch against which prevented any septicocci
The theatre of behaviour of birds, the animation of the animal, and the cultural and nutritional
relevance to the people gives indigenous wild fruit their nomenclature. (Nomenclature is a system of names/naming; vocabulary of scientific terms). Indigenous wild Fruits are organs of communication and geographical points of the fertility of the land.
Artistically most wild African fruit are segmented and partitioned to recall a memory of shared experience. Exotic African wild fruit by virtue of their aesthetic disposition create conversation points.
It is providential that Zimbabwe is blessed with a wide range of wild fruits.
The baobab Adansonia digitata, known locally as muuyu, grow in isolation. Although they are susceptible to strong winds, their deep-penetrating roots allow them to withstand even the strongest tempest.
The trees pollinated by bats, produce leaves for only a short time during the rainy season, when they also develop huge pink or white flowers and have a fruit as unique as the tree itself. It has a furry coating around a tough, gourd-like shell that shields a soft whitish pulp which is rich in nutrients the seeds are rich in citric acid and oil.
Muzhanje – Casimiroa edulis tree has plum-sized fruit with a yellow-green skin and custard like flesh having a vanilla flavor.
The tree grows well in areas where citrus grows. It has quite large seeds. It is also known by some as the custard apple which came to the region with the missionaries, is also known locally as as muzhanje wechirungu or ‘whitemans muzhanje’.
The small muroro bush Annona squamosa, the “sugar cherry” has a creamy fruit with aromatic flesh. It is similar to the cherimoya but with a sweeter taste.
Sclerocarya birrea, commonly known as Marula, grows widely in southern and eastern Africa. Mature fruit drops when still green and ripens to a yellow colour on the ground. Harvesting is done by picking up the fallen fruit. The fruit is eaten fresh, and is also used to prepare juices, jams, preserves, and alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages.
Rich in Vitamin C, Marula juice can be used as a mood enhancer and to relieve stomach ailments. Claims are made that the fruit may be used as an insecticide as well as a germicide Although they are sour, the edible fruits of the sour plum, Ximenia caffra are highly sought after, and are welcome midsummer food for baboons. It is grown from seed are sometimes used for extracting a body lotion.
The tree qualifies as an excellent addition in the garden.
Uapaca kirkiana, commonly known as Mazhanje, Mahobohobo or Wild Loquat, grows wild throughout Zimbabwe. The honey sweet fruits are amongst the most popular in Zimbabwe. A cake is made from the pulp and the ripe pulp is sometimes left to ferment in water to make a sweet wine.
Ziziphus mauritiana, or masau. Although masau is eaten fresh, it can be dried for use throughout the year or made into bread. The fruit is also used for distilling kachasu – a local alcoholic beverage.
Michelina Andreucci is a Zimbabwean-Italian researcher and a published author in her field. For Comments E-mail: linamanucci@gmail.com
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