Butter tree, Tallow Tree, Candle Tree, Black Mango

Where does Butter tree grow?

Found in: Africa, Asia, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central Africa, Central African Republic, CAR, China, Congo, Côte d'Ivoire, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Guinée, Guinea-Bissau, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Nigeria, Sao Tome and Principe, SE Asia, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Togo, West Africa

Notes: There are 5 Pentadesma species. They grow in Africa. They all yield edible oil.

Status: It is a commonly used food in West Africa.

Growing Butter tree, Tallow Tree, Candle Tree, Black Mango

Cultivation: Plants are grown from seed. Fresh seed must be used. Trees can also be grown from root suckers.

Edible Uses: The seeds are the source of an edible fat. The seeds are eaten when young. The pulp of ripe fruit is edible. (Unripe fruit are bitter)

Production: Trees first flower when about 8 m tall. Fruit are harvested then put together under a tree to ferment and allow the seed to be more easily removed. A mature tree can produce 500 fruit. The fruit weighs about 600 g and the seed 120 g. To produce oil the seeds are crushed and boiled and the oil skimmed off.

Nutrition Info

References

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