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My neighbor gave me four little Spekboom (Portulacaria afra) also called Elephantbush, Dwarf Jade or Porkbush. She finds my delight at getting plants amusing.
The Spekboom is a succulent mostly found in the East of South Africa and it also grows well in the Karoo. It's a sprawling shrub or a small tree that can grow up to 4 meters high. Being drought resistant and good at removing carbon from the atmosphere it's a very healthy addition to any garden.
The Spekboom is also very easy to grow. It tolerates poor soil and you can cuttings. You simply break off a piece and stick it into the ground in an area that gets lots of sun. It reacts very well to pruning so it makes good hedges ond works in small spaces. My neighbor keeps hers in a pot.
Now why would this be a great addition to a food forest?
It ticks the no one reason on the food forest checklist. You can eat it. or the leaves anyway
A fun fact. The leaves has an acidic taste that changes throughout the day. It's the strongest at midday and softens toward the evening. You can choose the taste by choosing the time.
There are lots of interesting uses for Spekboom leaves in cooking. Most interesting to me was seeing it used in a citrus cake. There are a lot of salad and blatjang recipes going around too.
The spekboom also have some real medicinal value. Amongst other things the juice is used as an antiseptic and to smooth skin ailments such as pimples, rash, sunburn and mouth infections.
While the edible part is the decisive factor to me I did not forget the bees. The Spekboom has beautiful little star shaped flowers that has a lot of nectar. I have never seen any up close but on the pictures it looks awesome.
So that is the newest addition to my food forest garden.
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