Boabab - “The Tree of Life"

The name Adansonia digitata was given by Linnaeus, the generic name honouring Michel Adanson who had been first decribed Baobab in the eighteenth century at Senegal. Darwin documented baobab trees on the St Jago in the Cape Verde Islands in 1832 and he commented on their size and longevity. Adansonia digitata L. is the most widely spread of the Adansonia species on the African continent which belongs to the family of Bombacaceae a sub family of the Malvaceae. Adansonia species comprises of 8 different species with large, spectacular, nocturnal flowers. One of these species is the A. digitata L, it occurs throughout the drier parts of Africa. A second species is restricted to North-Western Australia (A. gibbosa) and the remaining six species are endemic to Madagascar. The African baobab is known by a very large number of local names: Monkey bread tree, Ethiopian sour gourd, Cream of tartar tree, Senegal calabash fruit, Upside-down tree, boab, boaboa, bottle tree, upside-down tree.

           

                                    (source: Shutter stock images)

 (Source: twistedsifter.com)

India’s folklore holds several theories regarding baobab’s arrival to our country. Hindu myths allege that the trees came into creation when the demons and gods churned the sea. This swelling and swirling created nine jewels, one of which was the baobab tree. Today, locals still refer to the majestic specimens as kalpvriksha or the wish-fulfilling tree. Today 33 countries in Africa have some of the oldest strains of the tree, but no botanist can say about its real land of origin. Indeed, the subject of baobab’s origin is controversial, speculating and disputing topic for centuries. Recent DNA dating technology provide some insight to scientists on the issue: A 2009 study published in “Molecular Ecology” reveals that the most likely origin is somewhere in West Africa. Baobab trees possess incredible features due to its evolutionary history their roots, for instance have undergone centuries of refinement to possess the ability to store water. They can thrive in the harshest desert conditions.

Today, baobabs grow mostly throughout tropical Africa, southern Arabia, Madagascar, India, Sri Lanka, Australia, Barbados and Hawaii. Baobabs are widely distributed in belts across Africa. The baobab tree is an icon of the African savannah, a symbol of life and positivity in a landscape where little else can thrive and can have a lifespan of up to 5000 years. The baobab is a prehistoric species which predates both mankind and the splitting of the continents over 200 million years ago. Native to the African savannah where the climate is extremely dry and arid the Baobab has adapted to its environment and its nutrient-dense fruit in the dry season is a fortunate for existence of life. This is how it became known as "The Tree of Life".

Availability of Baobab in India

Baobabs are a rare sight in India. Savanur, a small town located in the Haveri District of Karnataka, boasts of its three majestic baobab trees reputed to be the oldest in the country. Each of them is allegedly over 5,000 years old (without tree rings, none can say for sure), and the girth of one tree measures an impressive 18 meters. A few baobabs grow in Madhya Pradesh’s ruined city, Mandavgad. Outside the Vasai fort in Maharashtra, one can behold an ancient tree growing amidst the fort’s stoic, 15^th century facades. One or two baobabs grow in Gujarat’s cities of Kutch, Bhanagar and Baroda. In Chennai, a single baobab tree grows in the Theosophist Society Gardens, a site dedicated to biological preservation. Despite the baobab’s usefulness, the tree faces extinction in India and other parts of the world. Bihar’s Sanjay Gandhi Biological Park maintains one tree as part of its conservation efforts to preserve the baobab. Baobab known in India in different names, Goraksi,Gorak-amli (Hindi), Aane hunase (Kannada), Baubab (Marathi), Chitrala (Sanskrit), Aanipuliya maram (Tamil), Brahma malika (Telegu).

Baobab trees can reach up to 30 metres high and up to a huge 50 metres in circumference. The baobab tree is undoubtedly one of nature's most iconic images. Its majestic presence is familiar to anyone who has spent time in rural Africa - but it is also well known all across the world thanks to its starring roles in Disney’s Lion King (it is Rafiki the monkey’s tree), Avatar (The Tree of Souls), Madagascar and the famous children's novel The Little Prince..

Importance of Baobab:

The Baobab tree has large whitish flowers which open at night. The fruit which grows up to a foot long, contains tartaric acid and vitamin C and can either be sucked or soaked in water to make a refreshing drink. They can also be roasted and ground up to make a coffee-like drink. The fruit is not the only part of the Baobab that can be used. The bark is pounded to make rope, mats, baskets, paper and cloth the leaves can be boiled and eaten. Fresh baobab leaves provide an edible vegetable similar to spinach which is also used medicinally to treat kidney and bladder disease, asthma, insect bites, and several other maladies. The tasty and nutritious fruits and seeds of several species are sought after, while pollen from the African and Australian baobabs is mixed with water to make glue.

Women in Africa have turned to the baobab fruit as a natural source of health and beauty for centuries. Baobab is the only fruit in the world to dry naturally on the branch. This means the fruit simply needs to be harvested, deseeded and sieved to produce a 100% natural fruit pulp powder. Baobab powder is deliciously sweet and citrussy - ideal for boosting smoothies, drinks, breakfast and any dish. Natives believe that women living in kraals (Zambia) where baobabs are plentiful have more children than those living outside baobab zones. They eat soup made from baobab leaves, which is rich in vitamins. This compensates for any deficiency in their diet. Doctors have confirmed that this indeed brings about a higher fertility rate.

Medicinal Applications of Baobab

Traditional medicine: The bark, roots, leaves, fruits and seeds of baobab are widely used by indigenous peoples for human and animal medicines. Leaves and fruit pulp are used in folk medicine as an antipyretic to overcome fevers. The powdered leaves can be used as anti-stress properties. They are variously used to treat fatigue, as a tonic and for insect bites, guinea worm and internal pains and to treat dysentery. The fruit pulp and powdered seeds are used in cases of dysentery and to promote perspiration.

The bark, leaf, fruit pulp and seed are used in India to reduce swellings. Baobab fruit pulp improves the iron status of children with low iron levels in their blood. An aqueous bark extract of A. digitata is traditionally used in Nigeria for treating sickle-cell anaemia.

Baobab stem-bark is considered beneficial in Nigeria as a heart tonic with diuretic properties. In Senegal baobab leaves and the fruit pulp are used for external bleeding, (baobab leaf) is taken for anaemia and also claimed to lower blood pressure. In Benin the Otomari prepare a decoction from the seeds known as mantofamen, it is used to treat high blood pressure. The leaves and pulp are also used in the treatment of haemorrhoids. Juice made from fruit pulp and seeds of A. digitata are given to treat haemoptysis.

In West Africa the sap or a paste from roasted crushed seeds, is applied to the diseased teeth and gums, the bark decoction is used as a mouthwash for toothache. The bark has been used for treating caries and the fruit stalk used as a tooth stick in Mali and India. Children with sore gums (gingivitis) are treated with roasted, powdered seeds.

In West Africa, eye complaints, such as conjunctivitis are treated by bathing the eyes in a decoction of baobab bark from young trees, an infusion of the leaves and flowers. Baobab seed is taken to relieve stomach ache in adults. The roots of A. digitata are used for treating stomach ache as well. The fruit pulp in water or milk is taken alone with gruel of millet or a decoction of the crushed or roasted seeds and water, is used to treat intestinal inflammations, diarrhoea and dysentery throughout much part of Africa.

The fresh or dried roots are boiled in two to four glasses of water, two cups are taken in the morning as a remedy for urine retention and urinary tract infections. In West African, a solution of the baobab fruit matrix and water or preferably rice water in which fruit matrix has been boiled, was used to treat smallpox. Patients with measles had a thick paste of baobab pulp, cereal flour and water placed on their eyes several times a day.

In South Africa the Venda use a baobab bark decoction together with the root of Osyrislanceolatato treat sexually transmissible diseases. The bark, leaf, fruit rind, pulp and seed are also used in India for treating venereal diseases.

A poultice of leaves crushed in hot water is used in Nigeria for healing circumcision wounds. Wounds may also be treated with an application of a seed paste. The gum and a powder scraped from the outside of the baobab fruit are used for cleansing wounds and sores and promoting granulation. In many parts of the African countries, there is a common but unconfirmed belief that baobab bark, pulp and seeds are an antidote to Strophanthus spp (an arrow poison).

Thus, in Tanzania, a specially delegated member of any Shangaan hunters squeeze the sap from baobab bark into the wound of an animal killed by a poisoned arrow to neutralise the poison. According to the active principle of the arrow poison is strophanthin, consisting of a mixture of glycosides, including K-strophanthin, B. cymarin, etc. ‘Adansonin’, present in the stem-bark is considered to have a cardiotonic effects, while the tannins in the baobab bark precipitate the glycosides.

Pregnant women in Malawi drank baobab juice made from fruit pulp mixed with water. Australian Aboriginal mothers with newborn babies also used to drink boabab fruit pulp crushed into water. Baobab roots and flowers have unspecified gynaecological applications but in Benin the flowers are used to speed the ejection of the foetus. The bark and leaves for treating afterbirth retention.

 In Zimbabwe pregnant women use the bark from mature baobabs to enlarge their birth canals in order to reduce pain during delivery. In India, to relieve delivery pains, pregnant women bath in water in which baobab bark has been boiled. A mixture of powdered roots of A. digitata and Sterculia setigera plus bulrush millet bran (Penisetum glaucum) to stimulate lactation, while in Mali, the fruit pulp is eaten to stimulate lactation.

A mixture of the powdered roots of A. digitata, Acacia albida, Bauhinia rufescens, Waltheria indica is recommended for pellagra and kwashiorkor. While in southern Africa kwashiorkor is also treated by providing an infusion of baobab root. Baobab bark is used as a remedy against rickets in children as a tonic. A root decoction is given as a tonic for lassitude and as a strengthening medicine. The pulp is eaten as an appetizer in Benin. Gelfand stated that David Livingstone successfully treated indolent sores with poultices of powdered baobab leaf and considered that Livingstone’s ulcers may have been of dietetic origin. In Benin, a decoction known as tutonakankount is prepared from baobab leaves crushed in boiling water to which a few grams of potash are added; it is used to cure iron and calcium deficiencies. The bark, leaf, fruit pulp and seed are used in India for relieving body and joint pains.

Taste of Baobab

Do not expect baobab to be pulpy and sweet like other fruits its edible portion has a dry, chalky and powdery texture. Baobabs taste insipid with a mildly sour, citrusy flavor; some find hints of tangy watermelon and strawberry while sucking on the fruit. Its tangy, citrusy flavor earns it the nickname of “lemonade tree” in some African countries.

Nutritional Value of Baobab

Baobab’s well-rounded nutritional profile makes the fruit an essential source of foodstuff for desert dwellers and nomads living in harsh, calorie-restricted regions. According to a nutrition label posted on Ojio raw organic baobab powder, 100g of powder* contains the following:

333kcal Fat (neg), 2,031mg Potassium (57% RDI), 73g Carbohydrate (25% RDI)

53g Fiber (213% RDI), 3g Protein, Vitamin C (120% RDI), Calcium (30% RDI)

Iron (45% RDI), Magnesium (30% RDI), Phosphorous (6% RDI), Thiamin (6% RDI).

Health Benefits of Baobab

Baobab is exceptionally high in calcium, iron, magnesium, vitamin C and fiber. As explained in a 2011 Reuters article, the fruit contains an abundance of antioxidants and outshines several other superfoods on the ORAC scale. To capitalize on baobab’s newfound popularity, many cottage industries have sprouted up to sell baobab powder as a nutritional super food from Africa. According to the book, “Indian Medicinal Plants: An Illustrated Dictionary,” baobab acts as a coolant, refrigerant, anti-dysenteric, antihistaminic, and antiseptic. Locals use the leaves as a prophylactic against fevers and an infusion with flowers treat respiratory disorders. Several civilizations also utilize the dried and powdered fruit pulp to treat bronchial asthma and allergic dermatitis.

Scientific studies reveal additional health benefits:

•         A 1994 study published in Fitoterapia found that baobab fruit extracts exhibited anti-inlammatory and analgesic qualities.

•         In 2003 study published in the Journal of Herbs, Spices and Medicinal Plants, baobab pulp’s aqueous extracts showed significant hepatoprotective effects.

•         A 2000 study published in Pharmaceutical Biology found that baobab’s methanol extracts displayed potent antiviral activities against herpes simplex, sindbis and the poliovirus. 

Storage: Extracted baobab powder stays fresh for three years. Store in an airtight container and place outside of direct sunlight, ideally in dry conditions. If the environment is humid, put the container in the refrigerator.

(Courtesy: Marie's Pastiche)

Baobab Recipe Ideas and Uses:

•         One of the most common baobab concoctions is a juice known in Africa as bouye. Simply add water to the fruit powder and let it soak for two hours. Once the powder has dissolved, stir the liquid and strain with cheesecloth: this will produce a chalky, sweet, milky liquid. Flavor with sugar as desired.

•         Make baobab tea by boiling the fruit, and straining the liquid through cheesecloth. Patients of respiratory ailments report tremendous relief after drinking one or two cup of tea. Roast, grind and brew the seeds to make a coffee-like beverage.

•         Use the juice of the baobab to make ice cream. Replace some of recipe’s milk or cream with baobab juice to impart its mellow tart flavor into the dessert.

•         Add baobab powder to smoothies. Baobabs pairs well with tropical fruits including mango, banana, pineapple and citrus.

•         Sprinkle baobab powder on tropical fruit salads made from sliced pineapple, kiwi, mango and banana.

•         Baobab powder works well in savory dishes: add to soup broth or use the powder to thicken sauces and marinades needing a tangy boost.

Random Facts:

The mosquito population’s growing resistance to chemical repellants has caused India’s government to explore natural remedies. Studies conducted in New Delhi’s Department of Virology indicate that baobab plant extracts have larvicidal and repellant activities against the mosquitos.

Baobab houses the only bar inside of a tree: South Africa’s bar, “The Big Baobab,” has enough room for 50 patrons, and the tree’s cool interior keeps the beer cold naturally.