African Star Apple – The Wonders of Agbalumo/Udara

Popularly known as Agbalumo by the Yoruba speaking people of Nigeria and Udara by the Igbo and Efik speaking part of the country, African Star Apple is famous for making our childhood in diverse ways.

These functions are what I call the wonders of the sweet, juicy, sometimes sour, chin-slapping fruit.

Nearly 90% of Nigerians love and eat this fruit, especially when it’s juicy and sweet (please don’t come for my head). If you don’t like “some” of them because it “slaps” your chin, it’s understandable but you must like the sweet ones right? Anyway, just know that sweet Udara does no wrong. If you hate this fruit, even the juicy ones, then you should be arrested, you must be a criminal.

For some of us, we don’t mind the sour taste and chin-tightening sensation, agbalumo is agbalumo and can never do wrong in our eyes.

Even if you don’t like some of them, for their tastes, and won’t even consider the health benefits of this fruit, you should at least show some respect and loyalty to Udara for making our childhood in several ways like:

• Free Long-lasting Bubble Gum

Swear you never made bubble gum out of your udara and I’ll tell you to go back to your childhood and right such wrong. You’re one of the reasons this country is like this my dear, and I’m really giving you that bad eye right now. You don’t know the bubble gum made from this amazing fruit, made louder sounds, lasted longer, and was softer than banana bubble gum? Let’s not even talk about the fact that it helped us save our 5 Naira pocket money for other things.

• Soup Thickener

Now, don’t roll your eyes. Let me tell you how this worked.

Those of us who played that game, where we took up the mummy and daddy acting roles and had to cook soup for our fake family, but our wicked real mothers would not allow us take from their kitchen, to serve our new young family, Udara seeds came to the rescue.

Behind that brown back, contains some whitish interior that looked just like melons. You see? We didn’t only get to thicken our soups but served premium egusi soups with udara seeds.

I hope you never ate those soups for real though?Because if you did, you need to be checked into a mental hospital; people like you might still be a nuisance to our society today.

• Decoration and Beauty

You were a girl and you never stuck the white gummy interior of Agbalumo seeds to your earlobes in an attempt at imitating our big aunties’ dangling earrings? You’re shaking your head and saying no? Wow! You were such an uncreative and unfashionable, lackluster, boring kid!

Okay wait, did you at least make holes on your agbalumo seed, then run some strings or thread through for a necklace and pendant? No, still? Who did you roll with? Haba!

• Games

I do not think there’s an English name for the throw and catch game. Do you remember that game that had us using 7 stones or 7 agbalumo seeds to play; where we picked one, threw it up and go back to pick some from the floor while reaching to catch the one we threw up?

Or even the popular Ayò game; usually played on a board or dugged holes on the ground. Udara seeds are usually used sometimes to fill the board or little holes on the ground to play the game.

African Star Apple remains a Legend! You’re wondering why everyone makes so much noise about it? And why we pay so much money for such tiny fruit? Like my boss legit paid 1000 Naira for 10 pieces of Udara the other day!

It is simply because it takes us back to when all that mattered was eating udara and finding solutions to some of our problems within the same fruit. Now you can see, right? We brag with our full chest, and if e easy, make your favourite fruits run am na.