2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38
Marula (Latin Sclerocarya birrea) - a fruit tree belonging to the Sumakhovy family. Also, Marula is called Ethiopian sclerokaria.
History
Marula is a unique plant native to the wooded regions of West and South Africa. On the territory of distant Africa, marula began to actively spread following the migration of the Bantu tribes - from time immemorial, these nutritious fruits have been an integral part of their diet. And this is confirmed by numerous archaeological finds. In addition, both the fruits and leaves of the marula have long been the food of many animals living in South Africa - they are eaten with great pleasure by waterbirds, slender giraffes, forest antelopes and warthogs. Also, elephants, monkeys and pigs drink the fermented juice of overripe fruits falling to the ground.
Description
Marula is a deciduous single-stemmed dioecious fruit tree, endowed with grayish bark speckled with convex rounded specks and a fairly wide, luxuriously unfolding crown. The height of the marula can reach eighteen meters.
The grayish-greenish leaves of this culture gather closer to the tips of the branches into small groups of four to ten leaves each, thus forming bizarre spiral rosettes. Each rosette is crowned with a lonely leaf pointing straight to the sky.
Since marula is a bisexual plant, female and male flowers grow on completely different trees. The appearance of the flowers is also not the same: the female flowers are slightly smaller, sit on rather long legs and have reddish-purple petals framed with white edges. And male flowers, scattered over the trees with sparse pinkish tassels, are larger in size and brighter in color. Marula usually begins to bloom in July, and its flowering can continue until January.
The ripe fruits, covered with a thin yellow skin, contain white pulp rich in vitamin C. By the way, juicy marula contains eight times more vitamin C than oranges we are used to. The rather tart and incredibly juicy flesh of the marula has a rather strong smell of turpentine. Nevertheless, this fruit is insanely delicious. And outwardly cute marula fruits are very reminiscent of plums. A very hard bone can be found inside each fruit.
Marula is able to bear fruit even twice a year. This usually happens before the rainy seasons (September-October or March-April).
Application
Marula is eaten fresh, and the pulp of the fruit is also used to prepare a wide variety of alcoholic beverages, jellies or juices. The well-known Amarula liqueur is prepared with the addition of marula. Children drink chilled juice from this fruit with great pleasure, and the pulp is an excellent addition to original exotic dishes. Even candy is made from marula!
The kernels of marula seeds, rich in fats and proteins, are also eaten. In addition, they serve as excellent raw materials for obtaining oil.
Africans prepare a very tasty tea-like drink from the decoction of the fruit peel, and toasted peel is an excellent substitute for coffee.
And the soft wood of marula is very actively used for artistic carving - beads, figurines and other ethnographic souvenirs are made from it. Quite strong ropes are made from the inner part of the tree bark, and the bark itself serves as raw materials for the manufacture of brown paint.
Growing
Marula is generally not very picky about soils, but it grows best on light loams. But this plant terribly does not like sandy soils: even if it grows on them, the marula will neither bloom nor bear fruit in this case.
