Edible Parts: Flowers  Leaves  Seed  Seedpod
Edible Uses: Drink

The pods contain a sweet, yellow, farinaceous pulp surrounding the seeds[46 , 301 ]. This pulp can be eaten fresh or made into sweetmeats and drinks[299 , 301 , 303 ]. It contains up to 29% crude protein and up to 60% saccharose, is rich in vitamin C and high in oil content[303 , 317 ]. The pulp also yields a flour that is much used in parts of Africa[301 , 317 ]. The pink brown to dark brown pods are about 45cm long and 2cm wide[418 ]. Seeds are fermented to make dawadawa, a black, strong-smelling, tasty food high in protein. Dried fermented seeds keep for more than a year in traditional earthenware pots without refrigeration, and small amounts are crumbled during cooking into traditional soups and stews that are usually eaten with sorghum- or millet-based dumplings and porridges. Because of the savoury taste and the high protein and fat values of the seed, it is sometimes described as a meat or cheese substitute, but it is not usually eaten in large amounts. Dawadawa is rich in protein, lipids and vitamin B2. Parinari curatellifolia is deficient in the amino acids methionine, cystine and tryptophan, but fermented beans are rich in lysine. The fat in the beans is nutritionally useful (approximately 60% is unsaturated)[299 , 303 ]. The seeds contain antinutritional factors and have to be processed before use as food. Boiled and fermented seeds contain 35% proteins, 29% lipids, 16% carbohydrates and have good organoleptic properties and a positive effect on intestinal flora[299 ]. A coffee substitute is prepared from the parched seeds[299 , 301 , 303 ]. The seeds are roasted and ground into a powder for use as a coffee substitute[317 ]. Young pods are sometimes roasted on embers and eaten[303 ]. Leaves are edible but not commonly eaten[303 ]. They are sometimes eaten as a vegetable, usually after boiling and then mixed with other foods such as cereal flour[299 ]. Young flower buds are added to mixed salads[299 ].

Plants For A Future can not take any responsibility for any adverse effects from the use of plants. Always seek advice from a professional before using a plant medicinally.
Analgesic  Anticoagulant  Antidiarrhoeal  Antidote  Antihaemorrhoidal  Antiinflammatory  Antiseptic  Diuretic  
Febrifuge  Hypotensive  Leprosy  Malaria  Mouthwash  Ophthalmic  Purgative  
Skin  Vitamin C

The bark is used as a mouthwash, vapour inhalant for toothache, or for ear complaints. It is macerated in baths for leprosy and used for bronchitis, pneumonia, skin infections, sores, ulcers, bilharzia, washes for fever, malaria, diarrhoea, violent colic and vomiting, sterility, venereal diseases, guinea worm, oedema and rickets, and as a poison antidote[303 ]. Leaves are used in lotions for sore eyes, burns, haemorrhoids and toothache[303 ]. Seed is taken for tension, and pulp for fevers, as a diuretic and as a mild purgative[303 ]. Roots are used in a lotion for sore eyes[303 ]. An alcoholic extract of crude seeds showed anti-hypertensive activity and contractile effect on smooth muscles of the intestine, and increased the tonus and mobility of the uterus[299 ]. Ichthyotoxic and molluscicidal activities have been recorded for the seeds due to the presence of saponins[299 ]. The bark, leaves and pod husks are rich in tannins, which in general have anti-diarrhoeal activities[299 ]. Analgesic and anti-inflammatory activities have been demonstrated for the bark extracts[299 ]. The aglycone flavonoids in the leaves have spasmolytic activity on smooth muscles, and also vasodilatory and antiseptic effects[299 ]. Coumarin derivatives in leaf extracts have anticoagulant activity[299 ].

Containers  Dye  Fibre  Fodder  Fuel  Furniture  Insecticide  Mordant  Musical  Potash  Shelterbelt  Soap making  Soil conditioner  Tannin  Teeth  Wood

Agroforestry Uses: A useful windbreak and shade tree[303 ]. Soils under the tree are improved by its leaf fall[299 , 303 ]. It is common practice to grow several crops such as maize, cassava, yams, sorghum and millet under the canopy[303 ]. Other Uses Pods and roots contain fibres and are used as sponges and as strings for musical instruments[299 , 303 ]. Twigs are used to clean the teeth. The bark stains the mouth red and also contains saponins that clean the teeth[303 ]. A mucilage obtained from part of the fruit is made into a fluid and used for hardening earth floors and to give a black glaze in pottery[303 ]. The fruit pods are used to produce an insecticide powder, which is added to water and sprayed on crops[325 ]. The husks of pods, mixed with indigo, improve the lustre of dye products[303 ]. The boiled pods are used to dye pottery black[299 ]. The ash is applied as a mordant[299 ]. The seeds and bark are a source of tannins[303 , 317 ]. The wood ashes are used as a source of potash in making soap and indigo dye[317 ]. Wood is whitish, moderately heavy, 580-640 kg/cubic m when air seasoned, relatively hard and solid; it smells unpleasant when newly felled, but seasoning does not take long and only occasionally causes shape distortion; easily worked by hand or power tools; nails, glues, varnishes and paints well; mainly useful as a light structural timber, for example, for vehicle bodies, agricultural implements, boxes, crates and barrels, furniture, mortars and pestles, bowls, planks and carvings[299 , 303 ]. The branches are sometimes lopped for firewood[299 , 303 ].

Special Uses

Carbon Farming  Food Forest  Nitrogen Fixer