ABSTRACT

This chapter provides information on the uses, folk medicine, chemistry, germplasm, distribution, ecology, cultivation, harvesting, yields, energy, and biotic factors of Mogongo Nut. The thin, fleshy portion, under the tough skin, may be eaten raw or cooked into a sweet porridge. The kernel has a sweet, milky, nutty flavor; eaten raw, pounded and fried, or mixed with lean meat. The seeds can be roasted whole, cracked, and the kernels pounded into a coarse meal, which is eaten dry, with meat, with other roots, or mixed with baobab pulp. The seed coat is nontoxic to rats when constituting 10% of diet, but it is an unsuitable food because of its toughness and indigestibility. According to Harlan, women and children are primarily involved in gathering plant materials among the Kung Bushmen. But adults gather the mongongo nuts. Compared to hunting, gathering is a low-risk, high-return enterprise.