Bush Butter Tree (Dacryodes edulis)

Family: Burseraceae | Edibility: Choice Edible (5/5)

Dacryodes edulis, commonly known as Bush Butter Tree, Safou or Atanga, is a fruit tree native to Africa. It is evergreen and usually grows about 18-40 m in height, with a short trunk and a deep, dense crown. The compound leaves are glossy. The bark is pale grey. The flowers are yellow and arranged in a large inflorescence. The fruit is an ellipsoidal drupe and can be eaten raw, cooked, or roasted.

Edible Parts & Harvest Seasons

Edible Parts: Fruit

Harvest Seasons: Early Summer, Fall, Late Summer

Flavor & Culinary Uses

pleasant, subacid flavour. — Fruit - raw or cooked.; A pleasant, subacid flavour.; The leathery shelled stone is surrounded by a pulpy, butyraceous pericarp about 5 mm thick which is the portion eaten, either raw, or cooked to form a sort of 'butter'.; When placed in hot water it softens and swells and all the flesh then slides easily off the seed.

Habitat & North American Range

Swamp forest. Evergreen forest. A shade-loving species of non-flooded forests in the humid tropical zone. Where there is a well-marked season, it is found only in gallery forest and on swampy ground. (Zone 4, Zone 5, Zone 6, Zone 7, Zone 8)