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Zizyphus - (Zizyphus spina-Christi) Folk Names: Christ Thorn Zizyphus is a shrub or tree with glabrous branches. The wild variety has spikes below the grayish-green tough leaves. It has clustered yellowish flowers and berries that look like wild cherries. It grows in Upper Egypt and Nubia. It is a popular fruit, and is also used in folk medicine. It was equally favored in pharaonic times, and dried fruits have been found in pre-dynastic graves. Some were included in the burial remains of Tutankhamun. The Egyptian peasants at the beginning of the nineteenth century still used to make zizyphus bread. The fruits were placed in a wooden mortar and pounded to separate the flesh from the kernels. The flesh was reduced to powder and then shaken on a mat to clean it. After this, it was kneaded with water to form a smooth dough and poured into dried gourds. A hole was dug in the ground and covered with leaves of the mudar plant (Calotropis procera). A fire was lit in the hole and the gourds left there in the warmth all night. The loaves were eaten on their own, or with clotted milk, in which case it has a constipatory effect. |