Click photos for larger image

SAUSAGE TREE:
AFRICAN SAUSAGE TREE

A member of the Bigona family, the South African sausage treeSausage Tree - CLICK FOR LARGER IMAGE (Kigelia pinnata or K.africana), has hundreds of huge sausage-like fruits that hang down from the limbs on long, rope-like stalks. The fruits may be over 2 feet long and weigh 20 pounds, and have inspired a wide variety of vernacular names, including one, in South Africa, that means ‘the fat tail of a sheep’.

Sausage Tree - CLICK FOR LARGER IMAGEThe hard, grey fruit of the sausage tree has a thin skin covering a firm, fibrous fruit pulp containing numerous small seeds. The fruit, although inedible itself, is a common ingredient in traditional beer, and is said to hasten the fermentation process. Kigelia leaves are an important livestock fodder, and the fruits are much prized by monkeys and elephants.

The fruit is also used as a cosmetic cream. The Tonga women of the Zambezi valley, for example, regularly apply preparations of the Sausage fruit to their faces, to ensure a blemish-free complexion.

(Some information is from the Southern African Natural Products Trade Association)
Photos by Chef James, taken at Fruit & Spice Park, Homestead, FL

 

FoodReference.com Logo

You are here > Home > FOOD TRIVIA & FACTS

Next

Please feel free to link to any pages of FoodReference.com from your website.
For permission to use any of this content please E-mail: james@foodreference.com
All contents are copyright © 1990 - 2024 James T. Ehler and www.FoodReference.com unless otherwise noted.
All rights reserved.  You may copy and use portions of this website for non-commercial, personal use only.
Any other use of these materials without prior written authorization is not very nice and violates the copyright.
Please take the time to request permission.

 

 

FOOD TRIVIA and FOOD FACTS

Also see: Food Articles and Cooking Tips

 

Popular Pages

Food History Articles

Pleasures of the Table

World Cuisine

Recipe Index

 

 

Home   |   Articles   |   FOOD TRIVIA   |   Today in Food History   |   Food Timeline   |   Recipes   |   Cooking_Tips   |   Food Quotes   |   Who’s Who   |   Culinary Schools & Tours   |   Food_Trivia_Quizzes   |   Food Poems   |   Free_Magazines   |   Food Festivals & Events

Philodendron Leaf

FoodReference.com (since 1999)

FOOD TRIVIA and FOOD FACTS SECTION