Melon Oil And Black Pepper
What do these things mean in the context of Nigerian cuisine? Following my curiosity from the last couple of posts
In typing my notes for the last two posts (here and here), I came across a couple of things that felt a bit unfamiliar, and decided to look them up.
Melon Oil
As far as I know, when people refer to melons as a food crop in the Nigerian context, they’re talking about derivatives of the egusi melon, rather than actual watermelons which are available and widely consumed, and look similar to the egusi melon on the outside - because they’re very much in the same family - but are quite different inside. The difference is that the fruit of the egusi melon is a different color, but more importantly, it is inedible because of how bitter it is.
The egusi melon is primarily valued for its seed kernels, which are ground and used in different kinds of dishes (e.g. soups) and snacks (e.g. spreads), or pressed into oil. In pre-colonial times when meat was not easy to come by in certain parts of Nigeria, vegetable oils may have been used as sources of protein, and egusi was one of those oils - the seeds are said to contain ~50% oil and ~30% protein. The reason this oil felt unfamiliar to me is that I grew up only knowing of and seeing palm oil and vegetable oils (like groundnut oil, etc) being used to cook. I had seen a small bottle of egusi oil in a friend’s house before but hadn’t quite realized that this was (or still is, in some places) a thing.
Here’s how the oil is made:
Cut the egusi melon fruit in 2 halves and let it ferment - this process makes it easier to remove the seeds
Remove seeds from the fruit, and wash
Dry the seeds
Shell the seeds to reveal the kernels
Grind seeds into powder
Combine powder with onions or shallots till it binds, forming a thick paste
Add a little hot water, and combine some more
Press the mixture to expel the oil
Here’s a short video illustrating how to make something called ‘mgbam’ (a snack made from the mixture described above), but also showing how egusi oil is made (by people who do it by hand).
Black Pepper
In the book I referenced for my last 2 posts, there’s a line about black pepper being abundant in the wild. Now - black pepper is native to India, and even though it has made its way around the world, I don’t think Nigeria is on the list of places that have adopted it such that it would grow in the wild without purposeful cultivation. So what did the author mean by ‘black pepper’? The 2 candidates that immediately sprang to mind were alligator pepper and uziza seeds, but when I started researching, I found other candidates. Here’s my process of elimination ~
Alligator pepper: related to cardamom, and is part of Yoruba gastronomy (to welcome visitors, and for babies when they’re newly born); this is important because the population being discussed is located in Ibadan, a Yoruba city). Known in the Yoruba language as atare
Grains of paradise: also known as melegueta pepper, related to cardamom and ginger, was used as a substitute for black pepper in Europe around the 14th-16th centuries. Not a lot of evidence that this is the black pepper in question.
UPDATE: It appears alligator pepper and grains of paradise might be one and the same, the difference being that when people think of alligator pepper, they think about the seeds that are sold whole, in a leathery bumpy pod (for which the pepper is named), but grains of paradise are sold as just seeds. More information on Betumi, Kitchenbutterfly, and there’s a dissenting opinion on Tropical Diversity (which I don’t quite agree with because the difference in the author’s mind seems to hinge on how they’re sold, which, anyone can break open the alligator pepper pod and take out the seeds to sell, no?)
Uziza: also known as iyere in Yoruba (and by other names - piper guineense, ashanti pepper, etc); this plant is semi-cultivated, typically found in tropical forest-type areas, and that seems like the sort of place where farming (of the kind described in the post) would take place. I also know from experience that this plant is used to flavour regular dishes of all kinds. Additionally, it was referenced in a book (originally printed in 1937) about the useful plants of tropical West Africa.
Grains of selim: known as eeru alamo in Yoruba, but seems more popular in the south-south and south-east part of Nigeria, where it is known as uda. I haven’t found too much to suggest this is the black pepper in question.
Long pepper: Native to asia but referenced in a book (originally printed in 1937) about the useful plants of tropical west africa. Same as in #4, there’s not a lot of evidence about this being the right candidate.
Given all the above, I think uziza and alligator pepper are still the likely candidates for the ‘black pepper’ that was mentioned - but I’m going with uziza because (a) it seems more versatile and is used more often in regular dishes (as opposed to alligator pepper which seems to feature more in hospitality practices, and in small doses at that); (b) the description of how it is cultivated - it seems a farmer would have been more likely to stumble onto it than anything else on the list.
Interesting Notes
While I was doing research for this post, I found that egusi could also be used as a form of infant formula. Specifically, “machine blending of 200 mL (6/7 cc.) of water with 240 mL (1 c.) of dehulled seeds seasoned with a little honey and salt produced a mixture resembling the creaminess of mother’s milk”. Also: if shaped into discs, the mixture residue from making the egusi oil (i.e. mgbam, but without the mushroom) could be a substitute for meat patties - which is interesting because I’m curious to know how that would taste in a burger.
There’s a type of pepper called cubeb, or piper cubeba, originating from Indonesia. It is used as one of the botanicals in gin, but also: people used to smoke it in cigarette form, to help with hay fever, asthma, and for general amusement.
Thank you for reading!
References
Nutritive Value of Nigerian Water Melon, by O. L. Oke
Mechanization of melon processing and novel extraction technologies: A short review, by Solomon O. Giwa, , Taiwo O. Akanbi
“Divine Stramonium”: The Rise and Fall of Smoking for Asthma
A list of links (discussing spice) that I haven’t had the chance to read but would love to, sometime.