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Everything Else => Tropical Vegetables and Other Edibles => Topic started by: LivingParadise on April 01, 2017, 05:04:49 PM

Title: Baobab
Post by: LivingParadise on April 01, 2017, 05:04:49 PM
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LivingParadise

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Baobab
« on: September 18, 2016, 11:18:47 PM »


Baobab trees are pretty amazing, and bear fruit that has possibly the highest antioxidant count of any plant in the world. But it can take a really long time for the fruits to appear - apparently 50-200 years! So in the meantime, you can eat the leaves, which apparently are tasty, and also have a high antioxidant count (although not as much as the fruit).

I was growing one from seed, but unfortunately it died after it had produced only 2 leaves due to a pest, so I never got to taste it. I have tasted Baobab fruit powder, though, which I bought online and really enjoyed its creamy sour taste, which I thought was like tamarind mixed with milk. I expected the leaves to also taste a bit sour, like tamarind leaves taste a bit similar to the fruit.

Anybody eating baobab leaves to be able to share with us how they taste, and favorite ways to prepare them?
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stuartdaly88

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Re: Baobab
« Reply #1 on: September 29, 2016, 07:22:31 AM »

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Not sour at all :)
They actually taste alot like baby spinach when young and tender. They are very nice in my opinion, maybe some are the tiniest bit floury.

On the fruit forum I think it was that someone pointed out to me about the 50 to 200 year that baobab grows in very nutritively poor arid regions many years will get little rain at all  and the baoabab will survive fine but miss a whole years growth. If we can get the fine balance right and get fast as possible growth then this figure could come down drastically in theory>

To anyone trying to cultivate this tree it requires a very long drought period of at least 5 months over winter and is very suseptable to rot if wet during its dormancy.
Cool thing is you can treat it as a bulb and dig it up and keep it in your garage for the whole five months. Seems to do well in a pot like a very large bonsai or succulent.
« Last Edit: September 29, 2016, 07:41:23 AM by stuartdaly88 »
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LivingParadise

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Re: Baobab
« Reply #2 on: October 21, 2016, 01:48:25 PM »

Thank you for this info! I had a chance to get baobab (digitata) but the order was cancelled because they made a mistake and ran out. ow I have an opportunity from a different company, but it is Adaonsonia grandidieri, which is much harder to come by information about. Do you know if the leaves of this species are also edible? It is apparently very rare outside of Madagascar. All I know that is a few of the 6 species of Baobab have edible leaves, but have not read anything that confirms it specifically for A. grandieri. Since I'm not likely to get to eat the fruit, I'd like to be sure I can eat the leaves if I'm going to buy it.