Lamude

Qu'est-ce que c'est??? : An extremely tart fruit of Western Africa, found abundantely in the south of Senegal.  In Pulaar it's called Lamude (litterally means sour thing). The word for sour is lami.  When I first tried this exotic fruit I found myself saying, Lamude no lami buy! which basically translated to...the sour fruit is really sour--go figure! God, I love pulaar :)

So here it is: A yellow exterior which nobody eats, you have to squeeze the sides of it together to pop it open at the top. Inside you will find the yellow, pulpy fruit that surrounds the seeds.  There are usually many inside depending on how big it is.  Here in the market you can get a small one for 25cfa (like 5 cents in America) or a larger one for 50 cfa (10 cents).

I've seen various methods for eating this deliciously sour fruit.  My host family likes to crack it open and put salt and Magi cubes (bouillon cube equivalent) on top.  That version is ok. I like to put chili pepper powder with mine (We call it American chile pepper at my compound because I brought the chile powder from Amerik) The kids like it that way too!

Me and the kids eatin Lamude!


A lot of the local women's groups around here use the fruit to make juice (really really good!) and jams.  If you add lots of sugar to it, it curbs some of that biting sourness.  I really enjoy eating it raw, but I am also a lover of sour fruit (I used to eat lemons raw on my breaks while working at PF Changs a few years ago).  I love all the cool and exotic fruits widely available here! 

Me and Aminatta sharing a lamude