Have you ever heard of groundnuts? These little-known nuts are a basic source of food for millions of people on the African continent.
Groundnuts are little red sweet nuts, which grow in the ground. They can also be peach-yellow in colour, and a little larger. Their cousin the peanut is much better-known.
The peanut does duty as a snack - roasted with salt or various spices such as wasabi or chili - or served in chocolate, or as a breakfast and sandwich spread in the form of peanut butter.
The groundnut, on the other hand, does heavy duty as a staple food for millions of families.
When freshly harvested, fresh groundnuts can be boiled unshelled with salt. They are a delicious snack to enjoy with, for example, black tea. Groundnuts can also be roasted with or without salt, and served as a snack.
In East Africa, however, particularly in Uganda, the main groundnut harvest is dried for later use. The raw dried groundnuts are pounded and sieved. A cheap but very nutritious sauce can be prepared with the powder.
The nuts are particularly rich in proteins and vitamins. Poor families that include raw groundnut powder in their daily meals can at least meet part of their protein requirements. Especially for children, this is very important if the family cannot regularly afford meat, fish or milk.
Called ebinyewa in the local language, this sauce is particularly nutritious because the cover of the raw groundnut, which contains many nutrients, is included. The sauce is also beloved because small amounts of it are enough to feed many people.
The sauce can be enriched with onions, tomatoes or spices, or cooked just as it is. The sauce is best served with steamed matoke bananas, or alternatively, boiled or steamed sweet potato.
Raw groundnut powder can also be added to various vegetable dishes to elevate their nutritive value, or to vary the taste.
This method of preparing raw groundnuts is common in southern and south-western Uganda. In northern Uganda, the groundnut is roasted, during which process it loses its testa.
The winnowed and cleaned groundnuts are then pounded and ground into a paste - odii. This paste is served as a very filling snack, along with ripe bananas, or boiled cassava or boiled sweet potato.
Mostly, however, the paste is added to boiled vegetables, meat, fish, or pulses. It thickens the sauce and adds a distinctive flavour to any food.
In both cases, the groundnut plays a key role in feeding millions of people, who use it in one form or the other as a staple food.
Some also like to eat groundnuts raw. Caution is in order, however, because raw unprocessed groundnuts easily develop fungi, which may be harmful to human health.
The groundnut is also an economic heavy-weight. Part of the economy of several African countries depend on the growth and trade in groundnuts.
The humble groundnut is nowhere near as famous as the peanut, but keeps many families alive. A real wonder nut.
Read more about groundnuts in Lamaro Schoenleber's new full-length memoirs; Sauerkraut in Odii - add love to taste, available at amazon.com right away! https://www.amazon.com/author/lamarolaker
Groundnuts are little red sweet nuts, which grow in the ground. They can also be peach-yellow in colour, and a little larger. Their cousin the peanut is much better-known.
The peanut does duty as a snack - roasted with salt or various spices such as wasabi or chili - or served in chocolate, or as a breakfast and sandwich spread in the form of peanut butter.
The groundnut, on the other hand, does heavy duty as a staple food for millions of families.
When freshly harvested, fresh groundnuts can be boiled unshelled with salt. They are a delicious snack to enjoy with, for example, black tea. Groundnuts can also be roasted with or without salt, and served as a snack.
In East Africa, however, particularly in Uganda, the main groundnut harvest is dried for later use. The raw dried groundnuts are pounded and sieved. A cheap but very nutritious sauce can be prepared with the powder.
The nuts are particularly rich in proteins and vitamins. Poor families that include raw groundnut powder in their daily meals can at least meet part of their protein requirements. Especially for children, this is very important if the family cannot regularly afford meat, fish or milk.
Called ebinyewa in the local language, this sauce is particularly nutritious because the cover of the raw groundnut, which contains many nutrients, is included. The sauce is also beloved because small amounts of it are enough to feed many people.
The sauce can be enriched with onions, tomatoes or spices, or cooked just as it is. The sauce is best served with steamed matoke bananas, or alternatively, boiled or steamed sweet potato.
Raw groundnut powder can also be added to various vegetable dishes to elevate their nutritive value, or to vary the taste.
This method of preparing raw groundnuts is common in southern and south-western Uganda. In northern Uganda, the groundnut is roasted, during which process it loses its testa.
The winnowed and cleaned groundnuts are then pounded and ground into a paste - odii. This paste is served as a very filling snack, along with ripe bananas, or boiled cassava or boiled sweet potato.
Mostly, however, the paste is added to boiled vegetables, meat, fish, or pulses. It thickens the sauce and adds a distinctive flavour to any food.
In both cases, the groundnut plays a key role in feeding millions of people, who use it in one form or the other as a staple food.
Some also like to eat groundnuts raw. Caution is in order, however, because raw unprocessed groundnuts easily develop fungi, which may be harmful to human health.
The groundnut is also an economic heavy-weight. Part of the economy of several African countries depend on the growth and trade in groundnuts.
The humble groundnut is nowhere near as famous as the peanut, but keeps many families alive. A real wonder nut.
Read more about groundnuts in Lamaro Schoenleber's new full-length memoirs; Sauerkraut in Odii - add love to taste, available at amazon.com right away! https://www.amazon.com/author/lamarolaker
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