Lost Crops of Africa Volume II: Vegetables (2006) / Chapter Skim
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6 Dika
6 Dika
Pages 118-135
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From page 119... ...
The kernels found inside have the texture normal to nuts and can be eaten raw or roasted like 1 In recent years the two forms of this versatile plant have been proposed as separate species but acceptance has been incomplete. The "eating type," which yields good fresh fruits, retains the original name Irvingia gabonensis.
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From page 120... ...
In the main, though, the kernels are ground and combined with spices to form the key ingredient in "ogbono soup." This extremely popular special dish is a sort of unifying regional favorite (although every country fervently considers that it produces the best)
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From page 121... ...
They sell the oil to factories making margarine, soap, or pharmaceuticals. The greatest profit center of all, however, is in the defatted kernel meal.
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From page 122... ...
Steamy zones such as southern Cameroon and eastern Nigeria represent one of the dika's special agronomic niches. Tropical lowlands are difficult to farm with modern agronomic approaches, and have consequently fallen behind the rest of the arable world.
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From page 123... ...
Indeed, entrepreneurial West Africans living in the United States already hawk molded ogbono cubes over the Internet. Considered in overview, then, it can be said that although dika makes up a vital part of the traditional food system in much of West and Central Africa, its full potential has so far gone unharnessed.
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From page 124... ...
As a result, this so-far-undomesticated tree scores high on the list of species inhabitants hope to see developed. (Distribution after David Ladipo.)
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From page 125... ...
USES Although various parts of this species have their uses, not excluding the living tree itself, the seed is the resource upon which the crop's future overwhelmingly rests. Fruits The fruits have traditionally been collected from wild trees for domestic use in the forests of the humid forest zone of southeastern Nigeria, Cameroon, Gabon, and both Congos.
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From page 126... ...
They are something like cashews, can be eaten raw or roasted. Most, though, are ground and combined with spices to form the key ingredient in "ogbono soup," a spicy dish extremely popular among West Africans and Central Africans.
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From page 127... ...
1979. Untersuchungen zur Fettsaurenzusammensetzung der Samen von Irvingia gabonensis, Cucumeropsis manni und Mucuna sloanei aus Nigeria ("Investigations on the fatty acid patterns of the seeds of Irvinga gabonensis, Cucumeropsis manni, and Mucuna sloanei from Nigeria.")
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From page 128... ...
In this regard, researchers at Onne in southeast Nigeria, have found that different trees demonstrate vast variation. For example, in 1995 one young tree produced only 18 fruits while its neighbor yielded 207.16 To extract the kernels the shells are currently broken open by hand.
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From page 129... ...
Simple, low technology methods have been developed for juvenile shoots,17 but getting successful cuttings from mature shoots is still an unsolved challenge. Desirable improvement objectives include increasing fruit size, improving the taste of fruits, increasing yield, and reducing tree height and the time to bear fruits.
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From page 130... ...
When its fruits were spread out to dry, 93 percent had split open after 72 hours; none of the seeds from six other Gabonese dika trees had split at all.19 18The seeds were planted in 1990. By 1994, 83 of the trees (45 percent)
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From page 131... ...
Exporting dika products such as thickening agents, oil, ogbono soup cubes, and the rest will provide incentive for West and Central African farmers to diversify and control quality. This will generate income for subsistence farmers, and create export revenues for countries in desperate need of them.
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From page 132... ...
Dika nut meal reportedly absorbs water and fat better than raw soymeal does, and "hence may have useful applications in processed foods, such as bakery products and minced meat formations."21 The kernel's food-thickening property is, as previously noted, thought to be due to mucilagenous polysaccharides that increase viscosity with heat. This characteristic "drawability" is an important trait for genetic selection, and through its development food technologists could provide exceptional input into the dika-domestication activities.
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From page 133... ...
was Irvingia gabonensis var excelsa.22 Family Irvingiaceae (also placed in Simaroubaceae) Common Names English: bush mango, wild mango, dika, dika nut French: manguier sauvage, chocolatier Hausa: Agbalo Nigeria: oro, oba, abesebuo, goron biri, oro, moupiki, muiba, eniok, andok, Ibo: ogbono (kernels)
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From page 134... ...
Altitude This is exclusively a lowland species, but whether that is a genetic imperative is uncertain. Low Temperature Dika trees probably cannot take freezing weather and even temperatures that approach freezing may damage them, although in the absense of any trial of cold conditions that is speculation.
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From page 135... ...
But one, Irvingia malayana Oliver ex Bennett, is the source of a vegetable oil called "cay-cay fat." In Nigeria are found two other species, Irvingia smittii Hook.f. and Irvingia grandifolia (Engl.)
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