#lostcropsofafrica

Celosia is featured in the Lost Crops of Africa as an important and beautiful green vegetable. While we primarily know it for it’s gorgeous flowers, shown here through a loupe (except that center photo - I snuck a dahlia in), in places like Nigeria, Benin, and Congo, it’s nutritious, protein-rich, and stamina-building greens “are primarily eaten in a dish prepared from various vegetable greens, combined with onion, eggplant, hot peppers, palm oil (or other vegetable oil), and fish or meat. Sometimes, peanut butter is also added as a thickener. All the ingredients are added to one pot, and brought to a steady boil to produce a tasty and nutritious ‘soup.’” We offer seeds for this “Feathery Plume Celosia” Truelove Seeds, and while we primarily grow them as cut flowers and as a seed crop, we sometimes also prepare them as callaloo. #featheryplumecelosia #celosiaargentea #plumecelosia #lostcropsofafrica #seedkeeping #seedsaving https://www.instagram.com/p/B3lKTIogZbr/?igshid=2hetvi0cd12k

Egusi is used primarily in West Africa for its de-hulled seeds, which thicken soups as a flour, are a great snack whole, make a paste like peanut butter, and have a high oil content. Egusi is the name for many species of cucurbits (melons, watermelons, and gourds) whose seeds are used for this purpose. Similar to Callaloo, egusi is a category of crops based on their similar function. See the Lost Crops of Africa volume II for a short list of species and lots of great info about this important seed crop. They mention that egusi is mostly grown by women, and that improvements in the promotion and sales of this seed will bring up the “egusi wage”, which is defended by women farmers of all ages as their standard of living depends on it. Egusi soup is central to many West African cuisines, and is also an offering to several Orisas (including Obatala) in Ifá religion in Nigeria and beyond. The particular species we are growing is called Egusi-itoo (Cucumeropsis mannii). The seeds are fat, white, and beautiful, and according to Truelove Seeds apprentice Amirah, who requested we grow this crop, the flesh is the essence of bitterness. We are so grateful that it seemed happy in our hoop house, and excited to deepen our relationship to its seeds and its story. #egusi #egusiseeds #egusiitoo #cucumeropsismanni #lostcropsofafrica #seedkeeping https://www.instagram.com/p/BoRr_2NF1oZ/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=qxe6vkdqzaby