Processing of locust bean fruits: Challenges and prospects

Locust bean fruit is normally processed into food condiment, which is popularly taken in the western part of Africa and it is used as a spice that gives an African meal a pleasant flavor. Processing of Locust beans is faced with various difficulties that affect both the small and the large scale production. This paper reviews the traditional methods of production of fermented locust beans, the problems associated with it and the possible ways of overcoming these problems in order to bring this health friendly seed into the limelight of large scale production. The processing of locust bean fruits to food condiment involves depodding, cleaning, boiling, dehulling, washing, re-cooking and fermentation. Some constraints are identified in the production and consumption of the condiment such as low production due to rudiment equipment, high wood consumption and poor production practices.