Pandanus. A plant which has a long thin leaf which is used to flavour both sweet and savoury foods. The product is often referred to as screwpine water. In Sri Lanka it is almost always used to flavour rice. The part of the leaf which is eaten is the orange bit from nearest the stalk. Alan Smith Tropical Fruit Trees, Largo in Florida, who grows them, kindly e-mailed me to let me know that I had misreported that this plant also bore a fruit with an edible seed.
Molokhia leaves. Nalta jute. Jew's mallow. The leaves may be eaten raw or cooked. The leaves have a mucilaginous (thickening) quality that helps thicken soups. In the West the seeds and younger leaves are added to salads while older leaves may be used to make tea. It is mainly used as a herb.
Calabar beans. Ordeal beans. These were given to test witchcraft. They are poisonous. If the imagined witch succumbed to the poison, this was held to be proof of guilt. If the poison was rejected by vomiting, then person was help to be innocent. Rather kinder than the ducking stool, in which survival was held to be a proof of guilt!
