Skip to content

Your account

With an account, your progress (modules read, XP, badges, cards, notebook, pack, challenges) follows you on every device. Without one, it stays in this browser.

or
Harmless🍽️ Edible💊 Medicinal

🌳 African Locust Bean

Parkia biglobosa · Fabaceae

🌍 Africa
🧠 To remember it“Sweet yellow pulp, savory fermented seed” — two contrasting foods from the same pod: one instant, the other after days of patience.
African Locust Bean — Parkia biglobosa

🔍 Identify it without mistakes

Large deciduous tree with a spreading umbrella-shaped canopy and bipinnately compound leaves. Long hanging pods (30-40 cm), pink turning dark brown at maturity, each containing around thirty seeds embedded in a powdery, sweet yellow pulp.

  1. umbrella-shaped silhouette typical of large West African savanna trees
  2. hanging dark brown pods, 30-40 cm long at maturity
  3. mealy yellow pulp coating the seeds inside the pod
Size7-20 m, exceptionally up to 30 m
Floweringdry season, large red globose inflorescences pollinated by bats
HabitatSudano-Sahelian belt of West Africa, from Senegal to South Sudan and northern Uganda, cultivated savannas and agroforestry parks

⚠️ Not to be confused with

No known dangerous confusionaucun

To tell them apart: the umbrella silhouette and the long hanging pods (30-40 cm) with powdery yellow pulp surrounding the seeds distinguish the African locust bean among the large trees of the West African savanna

🍽️ Eating it

Partsmealy yellow pod pulp, seeds (after fermentation)
Seasonend of dry season to early rainy season
Tastesweet, mealy pulp similar to dates; fermented condiment has a strong aroma, reminiscent of aged cheese

Preparation : yellow pulp eaten directly or mixed with water as a sweet drink; seeds boiled for several hours then fermented for 2-4 days (traditionally wrapped in leaves) to yield a protein-rich condiment widely used in West Africa, known as soumbala (dawadawa)

35gProtein
29gFat
16gCarbs

fermented seeds (soumbala/dawadawa), approximate composition reported in agronomical literature, per 100 g of dry matter

💊 Healing with it

various parts of the tree (bark, leaves) are among the most frequently cited traditional remedies against malaria in West Africa; reported antibacterial properties comparable to certain antibiotics in laboratory tests

Level of evidence : limited studies — Wikipedia - Parkia biglobosa

⚠️ no known dietary toxicity for the pulp or the fermented condiment

🪓 Other bushcraft uses

  • soumbala is a major source of income for rural West African women, who traditionally control its production and sale
  • wood used locally for construction
Sources (1)

No entry replaces a certain identification in the field, or medical advice. When in doubt: don't eat it. If ingestion is suspected: poison control or 112/911.