In Africa, foodscientists say several species of the custard apple family could help providealternative foods in times of scarcity.
One of them, thejunglesop tree [], maybe medium-sized, but not its fruit: it can be as long as a person's forearm and,at up to six kilograms, about as thick as a human leg. The junglesop is a tree common to Central Africa.
The tough andleathery brown skin of the fruit yields to soft yellow-orange flesh that can beeither sweet or sour, depending on the maturity of the seed and the genetics ofthe tree it came from. The fruit can be an acquired taste, so rich in flavorthat food scientists say some people can only eat a little at a time.
It's much enjoyedby the people of the Central African rainforest, who call it "bobo." For thepygmies, it provides an extra source of calories.
Roy Danforth is anEvangelical Covenant Missionary who (with his colleague Paul Noren) beendocumenting the junglesop and other fruits for three decades:
"The pygmies know allabout the junglesop and absolutely love the fruit," says Danforth.
"There's no need to promoteit among them. They know what time of year they produce; they are an excellentresource on which trees to go to.
"The junglesop," he continues, "needsresearch [for example, on how to create] improvedvarieties by grafting genetic material from the trees with fruit that isseedless or [sweet] tasting all the time. Only 30 percent [of the trees produce fruit thattastes good]: there is a balance between the sourness and sweetness of thefruits; some are almost all sour. But the ones that are sweet [have] an excellentflavor that rivals a peach."
But it may be yearsbefore junglesop is grown on a large scale. Agriculturalists say work is neededin learning how to fight the fungal diseases that affect the trees. Danforthsays scientists also need to develop plants that can produce fruit withinyears. He says some that he has developed have not produced fruit in twodecades.
Food scientists saythe junglesop is just one of several varieties of custard apple fruits that aregrown in Africa but have been ignored by Western food scientists.
In southern Africa,another is the yellow or reddish colored groundsop [], a fruit who pumpkin colored flesh is eatenboth raw and cooked.
Villagers in otherparts of the region make jam from the pulp of the small scarlet fruits of a shrubcalled baboon's breakfast [ Seeds from the tree, which grows well in both dry and moistclimates, make a spicy condiment.
Other neglectedfruit of the custard apple family is the bright red dwaba-berry [ of northernKwaZulu Natal in South Africa and the scarlet-colored fruit calledmonkey-fingers [which are said to look like sausages hanging from the tree. The fruit can bestewed or made into jelly and wine.
Monkeyfingers,dwaba-berries, junglesop and groundsop are just a few of indigenous fruitdocumented in the series by the National Research Council.