(63%)
It is not easy to look at, and the smell is unpleasant – at best.
These aside, Locust Bean is the single, most significant ingredient guaranteed to take your soups, stews or mixed vegetables from “just okay” to Va-va-voom – everytime.
Our grandparents know this as do the best African cooks – and now, so do you.
Wait! what is Carob, Locust Bean, Ugba, Irú and Dawa Dawa?
These names all refer to one and the same thing – this bean-like non-fleshy seed with a naturally sweet taste is widely used:
- To sweeten foods
- As a healthy chocolate substitute
- As a spice for some of the best tasting African stews – ever
Okay, let’s stay on that one for a moment
Nigerians and other Africans swear by Locust beans and add it to everything – not only because it tastes good and can serve as a tastier alternative to buillon cubes, but also due to its health benefits among which are vision improvement, digestion aid and much more
Whether its medical properties are proven or not, one things is for sure: its tastes good – yes! we’re back on that.
To further explain this, here are 2 of several traditional recipes which typically contain Locust Beans – and they taste great!
Adewuyu Adeniyi Gafari
I have a lot of Locust Bean Seed to sell and I need Foreign buyer, you can contact me through my mail [email protected] or +2348066990456 waiting for you buyers
Abiola
Good job spicy baby, pls i want to go into exportation of Nigeria local content such as okoro, locust bean(iru), correct cripy Garri ijebu many more………. pls how do i go about it as i dont have any knowledge about exportation. what are the procedure, i have no idea. Pls ur quik response will be highly welcome
brian
please does any one know where to get the Iru in London?
Chef Timi
WOW!…Spice baby, this site is fantastic!
I can now raise my head up high knowing ppl like you are showcasing African cuisines and culinary heritage in a well-packaged manner as this.
I’m so proud of your work here and most importantly, proud to be a Nigerian.
Good job!
Ms Spice
Chef Timi: your heartfelt comment brought tears to my eyes. Thank you for the kind words and yes, the entire spicebaby concept was born out of our love for our roots and while its not without its challenges, encouraging voices such as yours definitely make a difference. And you’re a chef, so we would LOVE if you’d get off the sidelines and jump in on-board with us to submit posts, tips or any materials you know will serve your personal idea of how our culinary heritage should be regarded.
hope to hear back from you sir.
Christal Veltin
I love the efforts you have put in this, thankyou for all the great posts .
Ms Spice
You’re welcome Christal. Come back often
JAYCEE
Nice blog you all got there, buh let me quickly correct somfin here, UGBA is not the same thing as DAWADAWA. where i come from UGBA is know as UKPAKA. It is that light coffee-brown (or sometimes dark brown) fruit that is cut in strips and used in garnishing African salad. while the dawadawa comes in tiny seeds. Thanks.
bloom
Hello I don’t think carob and “african locust bean”(dawadawa, iru) are the same.
Carob: Ceratonia siliqua
African locust bean: Parkia biglobosa
They are in the same family but different genus. Even a lime and a orange which are in the same genus “citrus” Have different health benefits. One should be careful to make these hasty generalizations. The only way to know the health benefits of our dawa dawa is through research of it. We can not use research findings of another plant just because they are both called locus bean.
Same family: Fabaceae
diff genus: Ceratonia and Parkia
zuby ace
locustbeans is avaliable at all time just are you ready for the business.get zuby at +238032585409
Hon Hassan Adeniran Yussuf
I have locust beans seed for sale. How do u link me local buyers.
Adedeji O. Israel
We are Pace Innovations. my names are Adedeji O. Israel. We are looking for Joint Venture relationship in sourcing, marketing and supply of raw materials like LOCUST BEANS AND IRU etc. for further information, call +2348120731048, email:[email protected]
Chris Popoola
Please, could you tell me where I might be able to find some Locust beans (whole, not the powder) in the U.S
Odegbie Olufunmilayo Adeola
There is somebody good in producing locust beans.
belema
its also known as ogiri..too
Bert
Great post!
Bakare Olumide
what are the preservative method in case you want to keep locust bean for long?
Ms Spice
Several methods for preserving locust beans, carob, iru or dawadawa include drying, fermentation and my mom’s favorite – salting.
I found this awesome paper by scientists I.O Ogunleye and O. Awogbemi for scientific.net you can check out here for details. Hope this helps.
bayonle olanusi
all you need to do for preservation is add salt and sundry it can be on fresh like that for a whole year
Gray
Excellent read, I just passed this onto a colleague who was doing a little research on that. And he actually bought me lunch because I found it for him smile So let me rephrase that: Thanks for lunch!
pamela stitch
Wow, I just learnt about Carob. Super excited…I will look out for it the next time I go grocery shopping….
Ms Spice
Hi Pamela: Locust beans is really awesome as long as it’s used in moderation.
Yusuf K. Abdulkareem
a very good info.keep it up.pls supply me with information on export potentials as I have d product of locust beans in reasonable quantity.thanks
Ms Spice
That’s great Yusuf. where are you visiting spicebaby.com from? and what other produce/resources do you have access to?