Rainy-Season Fruit · Grilled or Boiled
Nsafu / Safou (Grilled African Plum)
Photo: Cartoffel / Wikimedia Commons · CC0
Safou's oily, buttery flesh is often compared to avocado, but it's inedible raw — the fruit has to be boiled or grilled first just to soften its sharp acidity.
The oily, purple-skinned fruit of the safou tree is grilled under hot coals or briefly boiled until the flesh softens, then split open and eaten by hand, often alongside roasted corn, from seasonal vendors around Mbandaka's markets.
Why it's made this way: Safou trees grow widely across Équateur's forests, and the fruit's short rainy-season window each year turns its arrival at market stalls into an anticipated, calendar-marking event for local street vendors.
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Part of World of Street Food — 3248 dishes from 118 countries.
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Photo credits.