African Wildlife & Environment Issue 81

FAUNA, FLORA & WILDLIFE

the hands, feet and lips. The Zulu and Tswana people regard the fruit as a potent insecticide and use it to make a strong infusion for both tick-infested cattle and goats. They boil the fruit for an hour in enough water to cover them, then splash the cold brew on the animals, or they split open the fruit and rub the juicy peel over the ticks and infested skin.The fruit is rich in Vitamin C and fermented fruit can be used to make highly intoxicating nourishing beer. Marula Syrup recipe This is delicious drizzled over hot pancakes and waffles, or diluted with water into a refreshing drink served with ice and sliced lemon. Ingredients: • 750g ripe marulas •Water to cover the marulas • 300g honey • Juice of two large lemons. Instructions: • Place Marulas, honey and lemon juice into a pot and heat to boiling point for 5 minutes then turn down the heat to simmer for 40 minutes. • While simmering the marulas check to see that the skins have become soft and puffy, some of the fruit will split open - this is good! • The juice will reduce and become slightly thicker, now remove from the heat and allow to cool.

Wood The wood is smooth and does not crack easily when carved, which is why one finds it is often sold on roadsides made into wooden spoons, plates and drums. Sometimes one can find a traditional ‘stampblok’ (Afrikaans) which is still used today in rural areas as a wooden hollow with a receptacle used to stamp maize into fine maizemeal . Fruit The fruits ripen around March and early April and are much valued when ripe. The greater part of the fruit is taken up by the pip, which contains an edible nut rich in oil. This valuable and tasty protein can be used in cakes, biscuits, puddings and sweet dishes. The seeds themselves are hard, with three holes at one end which can be pulled open and the little meaty nut removed, leaving a small skull-shaped shell which is often used by African children in a game, or strung into a necklace or belt, believed to protect the wearer. Zulu women boil the pulp from the seed into a mass with a little water, until an oily residue emerges; this is used as a beauty treatment for cracked skin on

Marula fruit and pips cleaned by the squirrels

27 | African Wildlife & Environment | Issue 81 (2022)