Landolphia (rubber vine)

Landolphia spp.

fruit

Round, hard-shelled fruits whose tangy, sweet pulp around the seeds is sucked, cousins of madd.

Origin

Tropical Africa

Where to find it

Its fruits are sold along roadsides and at markets, from Guinea to Mozambique, at the end of the dry season.

Season (United States)

all year round

Preparation

The shell is cracked with a knife or against a stone; the seeds are spat out and the shell thrown away.

Molecules

In small amounts, not counted Pectins · Insoluble fibers

Did you know?

Its vine supplied the rubber of colonial Africa, extracted through terrible atrocities in the Congo.