Mongongo Nut

The mongongo nut, also called the manketti nut, is the seed of the mongongo tree, Schinziophyton rautanenii, native to subtropical southern Africa across northern Namibia, northern Botswana, southwestern Zambia, western Zimbabwe and parts of Malawi and Mozambique. It has long been a dietary staple for the San people of the region, prepared by steaming the dried fruit to soften its skin and then boiling it until the maroon flesh separates from the very hard inner nut, with both pulp and kernel eaten, whole or pounded into other foods. The nuts are prized for their rich, nutty flavor and unusually long shelf life, remaining edible for much of the year, and they can even be gathered intact from elephant dung after surviving digestion.