Description
Bambara nut
Bambara nut is a legume that is traced back to Africa and grown mostly in semi-arid-sub-Saharan Africa, and it is the third important legume. This nutrient-dense legume is often called a “complete food” due to its balanced nutrient composition. This nut consist of :
- 49%-63.5% carbohydrate, 15%-25% protein
- 4.5%-7.4% fat, 5.2%-6.4% fiber,
- 3.2%-4.4% ash and 2% mineral compared to whole fresh cow milk 88% moisture, 4.8% carbohydrate, 3.2% proteins, 3.4% fat, 0.7% ash, and 0.01% cholesterol.
- Its chemical composition is comparable to that of soy bean.
Culinary use of Bambara nut
In West Africa, the nuts are eaten as a snack, roasted and salted, processed into cake, or as a meal, boiled similar to other beans.
- It can also be fermented with lactic acid bacteria to make a probiotic beverage that not only increase the economic value of the nutritious legume but also help in addressing malnutrition.
- In South Eastern Nigeria, particularly in Enugu, the dried bambara beans are ground into a fine powder, then mixed with palm oil, water and pumpkin leaves and then poured into banana leaf wraps or bags before being boiled into a pudding to make okpa, a common breakfast food.
- During the rainy season in many parts of central Nigeria, the fresh bambara beans are cooked with their shells still on them, then eaten as a snack.
