Estate Living Magazine Design for living - Issue 42 June 2019 | Page 57

C O M M U N I T Y
the country – it’s the amatungulu that seems to have attracted the
special attention of foodies, and even researchers, who see it as a
potential, and very nutritious, food crop. They’re higher in Vitamin
C than citrus fruits, and they’re brimming with enough of the good
stuff like calcium, phosphorus, and magnesium to make a significant
impact on your recommended daily allowances.
You can eat the berries straight off the plant – they’re sweetish-to-
tartish – and you don’t have to worry about pips, since the seeds are
soft and pretty insignificant. So slice them in half and add them to
your salads and such – although if you want these little beauties to
really sing, you need to you cook with them.
And there are so many ways to do that: squeeze them over fish or
meat for added sweetness and flavour; use them in jams, jellies or
chutneys (they’re rich in pectin, so they’re really useful when you’re
making preserves); steep them as a flavouring in alcohol or cordials;
and add them to your fruitcakes, brownies or muffins – although
when you bake with them, you should probably slice and cook them
lightly first, and then allow them to dry out a little before you add
them to the mix.
L I V I N G
The plants are easy to maintain: they’re fairly drought-hardy, so
they’ll do well in most water-wise gardens, and they’re happy to
grow in full sun or semi-shade – the name forest num-num should
be a clue here – and in most soil types, too: sandy, loamy, or even
light clays.
Although num-nums tolerate coastal winds and even salt air, they’re
not happy when it’s very cold, so it’s best to protect young plants
if you’re in an area that experiences light frost – down to, say, five
degrees below. Any colder than that, and your babies probably
won’t survive.
Like us, the birds and the bees (well, butterflies) love to nom nom
nom on the num-num, too – so it really is a winner in every way. And,
once you have shown by example that they are safe to eat, it’s a really
sneaky way for you to get your kids to self-administer a regular dose
of vitamin C while they’re playing in the garden.
Carissa macrocarpa and Carissa bispinosa plants should
be available at most nurseries and garden centres. For more
information, search Carissa on pza.sanbi.org – the website that
celebrates the plants of southern Africa.
One of our favourite ideas comes from foodwithastory.co.za
Cook as a dessert with pears, add red wine
and water, sweetening and whole spices (e.g.
cinnamon, cloves and ginger), and cook for 10
to 15 minutes. Remove the pears and reduce
the liquid to a thicker syrup before serving with
yogurt or cream.
Interestingly, the US government’s National Research Council’s
three-volume Lost Crops of Africa (The National Academies
Press, Washington, 2008) devotes no fewer than 11 pages to the
num-num’s enormous commercial possibilities, comparing its
commercial potential to that of the immensely profitable cranberry.
I
Gardener’s best friend
But we’re not talking about farming – we’re talking about gardening.
For estate managers and home owners, both species have many
great advantages besides the obvious appeal of their good looks
and sweet fragrance.
Planted about a metre apart, num-nums can be grown as a hedge,
and – since those thorns of theirs are really quite vicious – they
can form part of the estate’s security system. They respond well to
cutting back, but they should be pruned narrower at the top than
at the base.
Martin Hatchuel