Today we are cooking African pear. This is a delicious seasonal fruit available between April-September every year.
The African pear is a native of West African and Central Africa. Depending on the locality where it is enjoyed, it is also known by many other names such as safuo, ube, bush pear and others.
When in season it is usually sold in markets and by street food vendors with roasted corn and roasted plantain.
After listing the ingredients needed, I will share how to prepare this delicious fruit. Then some of the benefits will also be listed briefly.
Ingredients
- 4 African pears
- 1 tbsp salt
- 3 cups water
How to prepare African pear
These are the steps to be taken to ensure that bush pear is edible.
- First put all the pears in a bowl of water
- Then proceed to gently clean them in the water with hands only
- Clean at least twice but if the water is not clear after the second cleaning then clean multiple times until the water look clear.
- Pour 3 cups water in a pot
- Add 1 tbsp salt
- Heat up the salt water until it boils
- When the water starts boiling, turn off the heat.
- Put all the pears in the hot water
- Cover the pot and steam it for 15-20mins
- After this, a significant change in the colour of the pears will be obvious.
- The colour of the pears will change from deep purple to light purple or lilac.
- Remove everything from the hot water
African pear is ready to be enjoyed.
Benefits of African pear
There are many health benefits of enjoying this delicious fruit
- It is a source of vitamins and minerals such as Vitamin C, calcium, zinc, magnesium, folate and sodium.
- Safuo is a source of healthy fat i.e plant based fat.
- It has high protein content.
It is also worthy to note that the purple skin is edible while the brown seed is to be discarded. And it can also be consumed during pregnancy.
Attached is a free step-by-step tutorial on how to prepare African pear.
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