A
Bounty of Fruit
'Soil for Life' columnist PAT FEATHERSTONE looks at the
advantages of planting indigenous fruit trees in your edible landscape.
Use
indigenous fruit trees as the framework for your edible landscape:
INDIGENOUS fruit trees are beautiful, bountiful and enormously
rewarding. They're perfectly adapted to South African conditions
and are a good source of food for you, your family and local wildlife.
They also provide habitats for many creatures that play significant
roles in maintaining the balance of nature; they fertilise the
soil, absorb carbon dioxide and release life-giving oxygen and
play an integral part in the cycling of water. Read on to get
some inspiration for creating an indigenous food forest.
Marula tree (Sclerocarya birrea)
Perhaps one of the best known wild fruits of Africa come from
this highly valued tree, which grows in the bushveld and woodlands
from KwaZulu-Natal, through to Swaziland and the northern parts
of South Africa. The fruits are fairly large sweet-smelling, greenish-yellow
berries containing a large, very hard seed. Inside each seed there
are three nuts. In late summer the berries ripen and fall to the
ground where the strong scent attracts a plethora of wildlife.
Reports of intoxicated elephants and baboons are not uncommon
as over-ripe fruits ferment, giving off strong, turpentine-like
smells. Marulas are deciduous trees; they cannot tolerate frost,
seldom grow to over nine metres and have spreading crowns with
dense, graceful foliage. The delicate, spiky flowers are either
male or female (occasionally a bisexual flower is produced) and
are usually carried on separate trees. Only rarely do the male
flowers produce a fruit. Insects flock to the flowering trees
in summer, their loud humming can be heard some distance away,
giving one the feeling of noisy heat. As a food plant, the Marula
is outstanding. The fleshy fruit is tart, thirst-quenching and
energy-boosting; it's very rich in Vitamin C - reputedly four
times higher than in a normal-sized orange - and even when fermented
maintains a good Vitamin C content. By the way, the juice is also
claimed to be an aphrodisiac! The nuts, incredibly difficult to
extract from their shells, have a very high energy value, and
contain roughly 30% protein and 60% fat; an excellent source of
nutrients.
The waterberry (waterbessie) tree (Syzigium cordatum)
An evergreen, water-loving tree, the waterberry occurs fairly
widely in South Africa on forest margins, along water courses,
in open bush and rocky outcrops, and from sea level to altitudes
of 1 600 metres. It reaches heights of over 12 metres and has
a dense round or spreading canopy, often more luxuriant at the
coast where air is humid and water tables high. The blue-green
leaves are thick and leathery and are well able to tolerate the
gale-force winds in the south-western Cape. New foliage is bright
red, which adds to the aesthetic appeal of the tree. In early
spring and summer, the clusters of sturdy buds at the ends of
the branches burst into creamy-white or pink flowers, which drop
their petals very quickly, leaving little puffs of stamens. The
flowers have a delicate scent, produce large amounts of nectar
and provide a good food source for bees and other insects. In
late summer and autumn, the fleshy, deep-pink to purple berries
ripen, each one with one pip, and these provide food for humans
and a variety of animals. This tree is perhaps one of the most
useful in our arboreal anthology. The berries with their sweet-sour
taste, with just a hint of green apple, can be used for making
alcoholic drinks and flavoured vinegars, cordials, jams, sorbets
and compotes.
Kei Apple (Dovyalis caffra)
The evergreen Kei apple is well known in the eastern parts of
the country in open bush and wooded grassland. The trees grow
to heights of three metres or more, the leaves are thick and shiny,
and the branches are armed with long, robust spines which make
them ideal for living security fences. Some trees may grow to
nine metres with a thick crown of green foliage; these large specimens
are often less spiny, as the tree has put its energy into its
bulk, rather than into thorn production. Although it is indigenous
to warmer areas, it will survive mild frost and long periods of
drought. It grows well in poor soils. Insignificant male and female
flowers are borne on separate trees in late spring, giving rise
to bunches of brightly coloured fruits on the female trees in
autumn.
Fresh, ripe fruits are rich in vitamin C and are popular eaten
fresh or made into juices and cordials. They make an excellent
addition to a fruit salad, muesli and yoghurt. If simmered for
a few minutes, they make a sauce which can be thickened with crème
fraiche to serve over ice cream. Their high pectin content gives
for superb jams and jellies. Unripe fruits can be used for pickling.
Visit your local library and do some research to find trees that
will suit your particular needs. Once you've done this you can
pick up a spade and start the preparation for planting. The better
you prepare, the more likely you are to have strong, healthy life-giving
trees.
To
all who must eat to live, there is hope. Grow your own food. It's
the simplest (and cheapest) way to good health.
This
article contains extracts from the book "Grow to Live: a Simple
Guide to Growing Your Own Good, Clean Food", by Pat Featherstone.
To win one of three copies, SMS SFL to 38020. SMSs cost R10, which
goes towards funding the Soil for Life Home Gardening Programme
in 2010. The book is available at Wordsworths, Exclusives and
your local bookshop, or you can buy one from Soil for Life. Proceeds
go towards helping those less fortunate to grow their own "patches
of salvation".
Soil
for Life is a Cape Town-based NGO that teaches people how to grow
their own good, safe food. For more information about membership,
workshops and organic methods for growing vegetables, herbs and
fruit, please phone Pat on (021) 794 4982. Have a look at the
website for details: www.soilforlife.co.ca
