Being a nutritionist by profession, I preach variety in diet. I encourage people to try new foods especially the indigenous ones and encourage them to play with the everyday ones to achieve new combination of nutrients and all that. I have been eating the African Star apple fruit (Agbalumo) all of February and I wondered how I could be adventurous with it myself. Soon, the rains would come and the forest fruit would disappear and I hoped to make this year a memorable one.
I went on different food blogs to see what might be appealing to me. I saw tart recipes, juices and cocktails and even sweets all made using Agbalumo. Let me tell you, there are so many creative people out there designing all kinds of dishes and drinks using our indigenous foods. Amazing how our foods are being prettied up and made to feel like star dishes that they are. I decided to do something I have not seen. I stared at the fruits in my fruit tray for a while before settling on what to do. Well, I had some pears, apples, avocado, lime and Agbalumo. I thought to myself, “Yeside, why not make an apple and pear combo?” After all, Agbalumo is called Star apple, apple na apple (don’t quote me o!).
I was going for a smoothie. When I started the blending, the colour did not look appealing so I added some more water to make the colour a bit lighter and voila, I had a drink.
I bought some pears and some Star Apples that I was sure were fresh and sweet to an extent. I combined them and blended with some water till it was smooth. I prefer to use a stick blender because it is easy to clean and I can work with really small quantity of ingredients.
Agbalumo is great because of its vitamin C content as well as potassium, calcium, phosphorus and zinc. Pear on the other hand has great dietary fibre content and lots of antioxidants especially in the skin. So I blended the pear with the skin. I did not add crushed ice to the blend because I wanted to really see how the blend of the two fruits would come out. The result was a drink that tasted and looked like guava juice. In truth, it was not a sweet drink but I loved the tanginess. I threw in a couple of ice cubes and the seeds of the Agbalumo and drank. I thought that it would have come out better if I had sieved the fibre out, but why throw all that goodness away. As I sat drinking and thinking about what else I could do with the Agbalumo, I found my glass empty.
I had an audience while making this and I asked if she wanted some. She was quick to decline. I know that not everyone is adventurous with food but I hope to make her a foodie by the end of the year. Next time, I might try some bananas and Agbalumo and let you know how it turns out. If you get to try something new with Agbalumo or anything else that you find appealing, please share with me.
