Ingredients
Fresh
- ripe eembe berries
- gathered from the tree
For drying
- eembe berries, fully ripe
- clean mats or trays
- strong sun
For cakes
- dried eembe
- a mortar and pestle
- or a heavy grinder
Sometimes made into
- a cold infusion, as a drink
- porridge, stirred through
Directions
- Rinse them off if they are dusty. Spread the ripe berries on clean mats.
- Set them in strong direct sun. Turn them all over once each day. Bring them in before the evening damp.
- Cover them with a net against insects and birds. Judging when they are dry matters. Discard any that show mould entirely. Keep the dried fruit in a sealed container.
- Keep it somewhere cool and dry. It keeps for many months that way. Check it occasionally for dampness. Pound the dried fruit in a large mortar.
- Keep pounding until it forms a coarse mass. Press that mass into flat cakes by hand. Set them out to dry further in the sun. Those cakes keep even better than loose fruit.
- Soak dried eembe in cold water. Give them several hours to soften. Crush them by hand in the water. Strain the liquid off afterwards.
- Stir dried or fresh eembe into millet porridge. Serving them needs no ceremony at all.
Technique
- The bird plum, Berchemia discolor, is also called brown ivory and grows across southern and eastern Africa, fruiting reliably without cultivation or watering.
- Fruit trees like this provide sugar at a time of year when little else does, and households commonly leave them standing when clearing land.
- Dried fruit must be completely hard with no moisture, since any softness leads to mould in storage.
Substitutions
- There is no substitute, since the fruit is specific to the tree and its season.
- Dried eembe is sold at Namibian markets when in season.
Variations
- Dried fruit is pounded and pressed into flat cakes that keep for months.
- A cold infusion of the dried fruit is drunk as a sweet-sour drink.
- Eembe are also stirred into millet porridge at breakfast.
History
Gathered in northern Namibia at the end of the rains, dried in the sun and stored as sweets for the dry months.
Frequently asked questions
What is Eembe?
Eembe is a snack from Namibia: tiny sweet-sour bird plum berries eaten fresh or dried into cakes. Gathered in northern Namibia at the end of the rains, dried in the sun and stored as sweets for the dry months.
How long does Eembe take to make?
Eembe takes 10 minutes of preparation and none, or days of drying of cooking. The recipe makes varies. It is rated easy to make.
What can I substitute in Eembe?
Yes, within limits. There is no substitute, since the fruit is specific to the tree and its season. Dried eembe is sold at Namibian markets when in season.
What is the most important thing to get right in Eembe?
Dried fruit must be completely hard with no moisture, since any softness leads to mould in storage.
