Baobab
Products derived from the fruit pulp and seeds of the baobab tree can be used in a variety of food and drinks as well as for cooking and massage oils.
The Baobab name originates from Arabic phrase bu hibab meaning fruit with many seeds. The first botanical description of the baobab was made by French botanist Michel Adanson and a species was later named Adansonia. The sixth and the last Malagasy species was discovered and described in 1960.
Baobabs are found in dry and semi-arid areas which receive less than 500 mm of water per year. They are succulent plants that adapt well to arid environments thanks to their water storage capacity in their thick and swollen trunks which contain up to 80% water.
The baobab only bear leaves in the rainy season and are leafless during the dry season which limits their water loss.
Baobab belong to the Bombacaceae family of trees which includes the Kapok tree. While there are nine species of baobab in the world, six of them are endemic to Madagascar, making the baobab tree symbolic to the big island.
The large flowers of baobab live only for one night and open almost
simultaneously for all individuals of the same species. Baobabs are pollinated
by moths, bats and bees.
Birds such as sunbirds and
certain lemurs also visit baobab flowers and can
have a modest pollinating activity.
The oldest known baobab species (A. rubrustipa) located
in the Tsimanampetsotse reserve is believed
to be over 1,600 years old.
In baobabs, all the cells are alive. This explains their exceptional healing and regeneration capabilities. Giants tolerate natural or man-made mutilations well and easily regenerate which sometimes gives them astonishing forms.
The fruit contain a dry
and chalky pulp with interesting
nutritional qualities, pulp,
which mixed with water and
sugar, constitutes a refreshing and
vitamin-rich drink. Baobab seeds are oilseeds,
richer in oil than peanuts. Baobab oils contain different
fatty acids (palmitic, oleic, linoleic) but also cyclopropenic
acids which must be degraded by cooking in order to make
edible oil. The seeds are
sometimes roasted and used for coffee.
In the South, women prepare beauty masks from bark reduced to
a paste.
On the Mahafaly plateau, baobabs (A. a) are the
subject of a unique practice in the world! Their trunk is
hollowed out and the cavities
thus formed serve as cisterns. In the
rainy season, they are filled with
water. These reserves allow
men to survive in the dry season in
a particularly arid
and hostile environment.
For the Sakalava ethnic group, the
baobab is a sacred tree. The species A.
grandidieri is called "reniala"
which means "mother of the forest".
The Sakalava associate the Cistern baobab (A. za) baobab with wild nature and feminine symbolism. Certain sacred baobabs are places of worship dedicated to women and children. The ceremonies, which take place at their foot, focus on the fertility of women, the good health of children or even the fertility of the land, particularly during a symbolic ritual called "fitahan-jaza". A Malagasy legend says that Imbelo, the first man, created woman by carving her from baobab wood. Many other legends are dedicated to baobab.