The Wild Sourplum

The Bright Red Bush That Heralds In Christmas

Writer: Annabel Hughes Aston Photography: Annabel Hughes Aston

Wild sourplums, or mungomba, as the Tonga people call them, taste like pukka maraschino cherries infused with almond essence.To me, nothing announces Christmas more in the upper Zambezi Valley than the arrival of wild sourplums, brought on by the onset of the summer rains.

Thelarge sourplum, or Ximenia caffra, grows throughout the bush on our farm, which sits atop the escarpment upriver from Victoria Falls. The fruits adorn the shaggy, shrub-like trees on which they grow like perfectly round, perfectly red Christmas ornaments.

Each December, families from neighbouring villages help me forage for fresh wild sourplums on and around our property, bringing me baskets and bucket-loads of

Annabel Hughes Aston is a writer, a chef, a gardener and a forager. She lives with her husband on a farm upstream from Victoria Falls in Livingstone, Zambia. She is the creator of ‘bush gourmet’ cuisine, developed while experimenting with, and fusing, wild edibles and indigenous Zambian ingredients with fresh local produce, mostly grown in her organic vegetable garden. Annabel won two awards after introducing her bush gourmet cuisine at The Elephant Café in Livingstone, including the Luxury Travel Guide Awards Boutique Restaurant of the Year (Africa & Middle East) for 2017, and Zambia’s Best New Restaurant in 2016. She has consulted to awardwinning lodges throughout Zambia, and is currently writing a food memoir. Annabel will be opening her own food establishment on the farm in April, 2020.