Oyster Nuts
Oyster nut, telfairia nuts, fluted pumpkin, Zanzibar oil vine
krobonko (East Africa)
(Telfairia pedata and T. occidentalis)
Oyster nuts are actually the seeds of two tropical African gourds borne on large vines. The gourds themselves are inedible, but the flavour of the seeds is comparable to the Brazil nut and superior to it in nutritional quality. The vine often scrambles up and over trees to cover an area the size of a parking lot and can bring trees crashing to the ground under the weight of its huge seed containers, which can weigh twenty-five pounds or more. Each one usually contains about 100 of the oyster-shaped nuts, which are eaten raw, boiled, or roasted. The kernels are sometimes ground to a paste, then wrapped in a banana leaf, and cooked with fish. The kernels are also pressed for the oil used in cooking. The oil content can be over 60%, and the protein content about 27%. Despite this, they do keep well.
