 | |
|
Welcome to Celtnet's Bitter Tomato Recipes Page — The Bitter Tomato is an African Fruit that's used as a vegetable, particularly in the preparation of West African 'soups' (ie stews). It is available in just about every African market from North to South but is essentially unknown in the West. The description and images below give a brief description of the plant and its fruit.
Here you will find information about the tamarillo plant and the uses of it's fruit, as well as seeing the web's largest collection of tamarillo-based recipes. |
Bitter Tomato (also known as betabore, Sodom apple, jaxato ji (Wolof)) is the fruit of Solanum incanum, a member of the Solanaceae (Nightshade) family, which also includes potatoes, tomatoes, capsicums.
Solanum incanum is a small erect shrub or perennial herb growing to some 60–150cm in height. The leaves are ovate and shallowly lobed with about 3 lobes on each side. These are opposite and grow along the length of the brown, woody, adult branches of the plant.
The inflorescences of the plant are solitary, or sessile (contracted), typically 5-many flowers in single inflorescences that are markedly dimorphic, with larger pricklier basal flower(s). Once fertilized these develop into the fruit (one per inflorescence) which are globular and can grow up to 6cm in diameter and have green or pale yellow skins with a thin waxy exocarp, The flesh is white, moist but not juicy and contains many seeds that are pale yellow, or brown to black; 2–2.6 mm long. The cross-section of the fruit looks vaguely like a tomato (hence the common name of bitter tomato) and the flesh is markedly bitter but sweetens upon boiling. It also exudes a glutinous substance when boiled and this thickens-up stews and soups. As a result the fruit is much used in West African stews as a thickener.
Solanum incanum it is native to Northern and north-eastern Africa and the middle East (though it has been naturalized in west africa, east Arica, south africa and Australia).
In Kenya the fruit of Solanum incanum are extensively used for the treatment of cutaneous mycotic infections and other pathological conditions. This therapeutic use has been attributed to the presence of solanine and related glycoalkaloids within the fruit. Recent studies have also shown that bitter tomatoes contain a compound with a phosphorylated structure similar to the purine adenine which is a potent antimicrobial agent. This compound effectively inhibits the growth of gram-positive and -negative bacteria, yeasts, dermatophytes, and some pathogens of agricultural produce. Thus the use of bitter tomatoes in West African stews may also act to preserve those stews and soups.
Solanum incanum is closely related to Solanum aethiopicum which has a redder (sometimes deep red, sometimes orange) fruit (though of the same morphology) which is generally harvested when green. Cultivation of Solanum aethiopicum is increasing in West Africa. It is also fairly closely related to the aubergine (eggplant) Solanum melangena which, in its West African variety produces a yellow fruit that's often termed 'Garden eggs'.
Alphabetical list of bitter tomato-based recipes follow (limited to 100 recipes per page). There are 9 recipes in total:
| Bitter Tomato Chutney Origin: African Fusion | Jollof/Djolof Rice Origin: West Africa | Okra Rice and Red-oil Fish Origin: Liberia |
| Chicken and Beef Benachin Origin: Gambia | Liberian Plam Nut Soup Origin: Liberia | Peanut Soup Origin: West Africa |
| Dry Rice and Fish Origin: Liberia | Mbakhal Origin: Senegal | Serekunda Fish Benachin Origin: Gambia |
Couldn't find what you were looking for? Search the web:
Recipe Information: 35
Learn a little about the origins of British biscuits and American cookies and how these classic baked goods differ from one another. Also presented is a recipe for a classic American chocolate chip cookie and a traditional British tea-time biscuit.
Recipe Information: 56
By choosing to drink organic fair trade coffee you will be directly contributing to the maintenance of a sustainable society. However, in order to truly understand this amazing concept you must first unravel the true meaning behind organic and fair trade coffee.
Recipe Information: 115
Ever wonder what the tastiest method to smoke turkey is. Well in my opinion, slowly smoking a turkey throughout the day is the best of all ways to cook this big bird
Recipe Information: 5
The recipe here for moy-moy with pepper soup gives a vegetarian version of the classic West African 'pepper soup' (chilli-based stew). The moy-moy (or steamed black-eyed bean cakes) represent a Nigerian classic that's typically steamed in banana or plantain leaves. I've adapted the recipe to make them more muffin-like (which is better in terms of providing a substantial vegetarian meal).
Recipe Information: 66
Prue Leiths' 'Leiths Cookery Bible' is one of those books that you never new you couldn't do without. It is the one cookery book that you need on your bookshelf (not that it will stay there very long). To find out why this book is so indispensible why not read the review now?
Recipe Information: 114
Everything you want to know about cake decorating sets.
Recipe Information: 56
If you care about your health, olives should be a compulsory part of your daily diet. It won't be tricky to understand in more details such matters as history of olives, references for use and so on.
Recipe Information: 115
The Dungeness crab is one of the Thanksgiving staples along the the West Coast of the United States, as the crab is in season during November. Here you will find out how to prepare the crab ready for use in a range of other recipes.
Recipe Information: 35
When you examine the history of drinks, what you see is the attempt by human civilizations to render drinking water safe. This article gives an introduction to the ways various civilizations have chosen to make water safe to drink as well as providing two recipes for a fruit juice drink and a spice infusion of lemongrass.
Recipe Information: 114
Different cultures have various methods used for tea preparation. Learn more about them.
click here for the full story
printer version