The baobab is impossible to miss in the Senegalese landscape: a thick grey trunk, branches that look like roots, and fruit that hangs like velvet pods. Two of our products come from it, the fruit and the seed oil. Here is what makes the tree so special.
1. It dries on the tree
Baobab fruit is one of the few fruits that dries naturally while still on the branch. By the time it is harvested, the pulp inside is already a pale, chalky powder around the seeds. That is why our pouches hold dry pieces rather than fresh fruit, and why it keeps so well.
2. Pain de singe means monkey bread
The French name comes from the fruit's dry, bread-like texture and the monkeys that eat it. In Wolof it is bouye, which is also the name of the drink made from it.
3. The pulp is naturally tart
Baobab pulp tastes somewhere between citrus and pear, with a sherbet-like tang. It is valued for its vitamin C and dietary fibre, and dissolves in water, which is how bouye juice is made.
4. The seeds give an oil
Inside the pulp are hard seeds. Pressed, they give a golden oil that has been used across West Africa for skin and hair care for generations. That oil is what fills our Baobab Oil bottles.
5. The trees live for centuries
Some baobabs in Senegal are estimated to be well over a thousand years old, and villages often grow around a single tree that serves as a meeting place. Harvesting the fruit does not harm the tree, which makes it a sustainable crop for the cooperatives we work with.
If you have never tasted baobab, start with a spoon of pulp stirred into a glass of cold water with a little sugar. Then try the full bouye recipe in this journal.