Amadumbe or Madumbis: a Traditional Harvest of Rural KwaZulu-Natal

Zululand has rich cultural and natural heritages which must be cherished, including Amadumbe.

In The Great Gatsby, the narrator, Nick Carraway, at one stage remarks: “It is invariably saddening to look through new eyes at things upon which you have expended your own powers of adjustment" (F. Scott Fitzgerald). He says this in relation to Daisy's casting a desultory eye over the proceedings at Gatsby's mansion, and finding the party entirely not to her liking, which means that Nick evaluates anew his perceptions of this particular evening and indeed of the Saturday extravaganzas preceding this one (as in fact, does Gatsby, our protagonist). 

I'm not sure if I'd always attach the emotion 'saddening' to describe the emotion you feel when you realise you were utterly and completely wrong in your assessments; I find it rather exciting to be proved wrong - after all, how can you be prepared to discover anything new unless you are prepared to discard the old ways of thinking? 

That said, you may find, like T.S. Eliot's Magi, that you are "no longer at ease here, in the old dispensation" ... it certainly can be extremely humbling indeed, not to mention discombobulating, to change your ways forever. Which provides, actually, all the more reason to cast aside false pride and adopt habitually an open mind that adjusts for new learnings by being prepared to be horribly wrong. As my wonderful great-aunt, Faster, would say to us all, "Eat your tomatoes, children, while they are still healthy for you." Hence I proffer up my learnings about Amadumbe in the spirit of Enlightenment. 

When I was growing up in KwaZulu-Natal, madumbis (as we called them then, rather than the proper Zulu term, Amadumbe) were sometimes brought to us as gifts by those who worked in the house after visits back home to the rural areas in which they built their homes in the deep, dark days of apartheid, where "separate areas" were the legislated norm. The gift of a parcel of Amadumbe was never taken for granted, but always known as the sacrifice that it was; when subsistence farmers share their bounty, it is a gift indeed.

Freshly harvested Amadumbe or Colocasi esculenta (L.) Schott

We also bought madumbis from Mr Gounden, the Indian market-gardener who would arrive every Friday in a big, green covered truck and dispense from it fruit and vegetables that he had either grown himself, or bought that very day from the Early Morning Market in Durban. Great was my mum's delight, the week after we moved house, when Mr Gounden's truck duly arrived outside the gate of our new home, since in the stress of moving she had entirely omitted to let him know our new address. Weekends were always full of fruit and fresh vegetables, thanks to Mr Gounden and his truck full of largesse. 

I had always considered Amadumbe a traditional harvest of Zulu subsistence farmers, and in fact even thought of them as indigenous to the region, for they always were to be found growing apparently 'wild' close to the streams of the farms in Ixopo. However, after my research into the origins of the Amadumbe, I would not be surprised in the slightest if we discover they were brought into KwaZulu-Natal by indentured Indian labourers who arrived in the then-Natal, courtesy of the British Empire to work in the sugar-cane and other fields. 

In my grandfather's memoirs, he talks of the indentured labourers who worked at his grandfather's farm in Ixopo (though I am afraid to say, the historical record indicates my great-great grandfather, Henry Camp, was at least once late, in fact, very, very late in his payments to said labourers, to the extent that a dispute was lodged at the High Court in Pietermaritzburg). 

Mr Gounden was of a market-gardener family, and I found this obviously slightly dated History of the Gounden Family in Durban which constituted part of a final year University History project particularly fascinating; I would not be at all surprised if the Mr Gounden who made his living by bringing vegetables and fruits to Kloof and surrounds was from this particular family, who number amongst them many notable academics and activists.  

My brother, Piers, the only one of us who stayed in Durban for University, remembers coming home from exams and steam-boiling a massive plate of madumbis which he relished, eaten simply with lashing of butter and copious applications of salt.  

Amadumbe or madumbis steamed in their skins, eaten with butter and salt, glutinous and satisfying carbohydrates

Regardless of the journey taken by Amadumbe into South Africa, whether, like the Indian Mynah, they came in with Indian indentured labour, or whether it was brought down from more northern African climes via other migratory paths - what neither route does explain is how the madumbi became a preferred crop of rural farmers in our area. I had always assumed that perhaps preference was involved, or culture and tradition; that for many Zulus, this was the reason why they were so much more likely to be found growing madumbis, for instance, as opposed to potatoes or sweet potatoes. 

But first, as evidence of this preference for growing  Amadumbe in the areas in which I now reside, let me show you madumbis being grown around and about, as I travel around as a community development worker -  

Just off the N3 between Durban and Pietermaritzburg, along the Old Main Road, you  find roads that lead you into the Valley of a Thousand Hills. The road to KwaXimba takes you into valleys which are deep and green, and the rolling green hills of KwaZulu-Natal surround you on all sides. The houses cluster along the flatter pieces of land and the ridges; don't you just love the slightly crinkled look of the hills with the dark green trees and shrubs hugging the hollows.

KwaXimba homesteads, Valley of a Thousand Hills, KwaZulu-Natal

Nguni cattle stand in the deep shade of big trees growing along the road, and you have to nudge them out of the way, hooting madly all the time, for them to move out of the path of your car - which they undertake begrudingly, with the best bovine expression on their otherwise placid, contemplative faces: "Who's this idiot disturbing us?"

Nguni cattle, KwaXimba

It is so close to the bustling business of Africa's busiest port, and yet so far away in tempo. 

Taxis are few and distances are long, so the pace of life is slow but sure, measured treads that nonetheless eat up the ground.

The grass grows long along the sides of the road, where women grass-cutters using traditional pangas cut long swaths of high summer grass with red clay on their faces to protect them from the sun.

Women grass-cutters, Inanda

Close to these two women was a cantankerous dog that would rush into the road, barking at you madly - it gave me quite a fright, each time.

I was en route to a number of schools in the area, piloting science kits for Siemens Stiftung Experimento project. However, you can help but observe and document the journey. 

Food security, South African style: Amadumbe behind a fence, Inanda

Behind this security fence, close to a school, are growing mealies or corn, and Amadumbe or Madumbis, also known as Taro or Dasheen. Its scientific name is Colocasia esculenta (L.) Schott, while here, in a nearby field, close to a water source, is found a more mature crop of Amadumbe:

Amadumbe amidst the grass

Throughout my journeys, I commonly find Amadumbe and maize; even black-jack being purposefully grown in fields as imfino - I also come across pumpkins, which are not only grown for their fruit, but the pumpkin leaves are also harvested and cooked as imfino izintanga:

Pumpkins grown for imfino izintanga as well as their fruit

However, I seldom see evidence of potatoes or sweet potatoes grown, but often I espy Amadumbe being grown. The Amadumbe have been a neglected traditional food crop of rural areas, particularly in this region of KwaZulu-Natal where the climate is temperate and in summer even the rain is warm upon your skin. Nonetheless, between the triple bottom line and a focus on sustainable rural agriculture, increasingly, you are finding madumbis for sale these days in grocery stores:

Amadumbe or madumbis are more expensive than potatoes or sweet potatoes

However, what I discovered from my trials and travails as an organic food gardener was that there is an extremely simple reason why Amadumbe or Taro are an important food crop in rural KwaZulu-Natal. Unrelated to taste is the simple fact that the blesmol or mole-rat, scientifically known as Cryptomys hottentotus leaves their corms alone.

This is a direct result of the fact that the corms of Colocasia esculenta are mildly toxic when raw, due to the presence of calcium oxalate and needle-like raphides, which are rendered inert through cooking.

Madumi or Amadumbe harvest

The mole-rat has no such qualms with regard to other underground harvests such as carrots or potatoes. Hence, for a subsistence organic farmer, the Amadumbe or Taro is a real blessing, and thrives in the warm, wet conditions of KwaZulu-Natal. In fact, given that Amadumbe prefer a temperature range of between 10 ºC and 30ºC, our region is perfect for growing such a crop, whereas the potatoes, for instance, may battle somewhat in the moist humidity - they don't like getting their leaves wet. The sweet potatoes thrive - but are at risk of being harvested by the mole-rats. 

Amadumbe are remarkably ornamental, well worth growing in your garden

It is also a remarkably pretty green-leafed plant, which does not even die back in the mild winters we have, and in fact is a close relative of that more highly invasive plant, the elephant ear, which it turns out, is also edible though a lot more toxic and which was planted for its ornamental properties alone though it is now choking our waterways. 

However, since it is both pretty and inedible raw, we recently decided to liberate our Amadumbe from the confines of the monkey-proof cage, thereby creating a potager or ornamental vegetable garden at our entrance, since the monkeys will leave the leaves alone:

Amadumbe bed outside the confines of the monkey-proof vegetable garden

Furthermore, thanks to an interchange with +Rajini Rao who say of Amadumbe that, "In India it goes by many regional names, although I knew it as arbi", we also know that the leaves themselves are edible - when cooked; "In southern India, there is a very popular dish made with the leaves, called patrode. A spiced rice paste is applied to the surface, the leaves are layered, rolled up and steamed. Later, the rolls are sliced into pin wheels and pan fried. It's delicious!"

Next time we harvest Amadumbe we will ensure to cook and eat the leaves as well. I will also try her way of scraping the skin off, cubing and sauteing the madumbis and then covering to steam so they are crispy with a nice surface crunch.

Amadumbe or Colocasia esculenta: edible throughout, as long as it is cooked.

But however you eat Amadumbe, it's delicious and nutritious, and, certainly should be cultivated by any organic gardener living in the sub-tropical realms of KwaZulu-Natal.