Wild Fruit · Zambezi Valley
Masau
Photo: Hans Hillewaert / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
Masau is a jujube, Ziziphus mauritiana — the same species grown across South Asia as ber and sold in Indian markets.
Masau is a small, tart-sweet wild fruit that ripens on thorny trees across the Zambezi Valley in the dry season. Families and traders gather it to eat fresh, sun-dry it for later, or cook it into porridge and cakes — and even distil it into a potent spirit called kachasu.
Why it's made this way: Masau grows wild rather than being cultivated, making it an important free food source and cash crop for Zambezi Valley communities in the lean months between main harvests.
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Part of World of Street Food — 3443 dishes from 118 countries.
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