When I got home on Friday, there in a Sainsbury's bag by my front door, were a few hard green sticks.....What were they? I could not guess but a phone call later I was wiser: Brede Mouroum Sticks. But I had not heard of eating the sticks. I can remember that my Auntie Suzanne who lived next door had a tree, which from time to time, especially when times were hard, or it was too hot to walk to the bazaar for greens, she would pluck the young green leaves and make them into a 'greens dish' to go with rice and salt cod, poisson sale or whatever. It took no time at all to cook, and was a gorgeous bright green colour, always lovely beside the local rougailles. If I lived in the right climatic zone, this would definitely be growing in the garden. I bet the tender small green pods are great to eat too!
With the wonder of the www, I found that indeed one can eat the pods. Mine seemed to be on the hard side, so I chopped them up, boiled them.....and what a pungent smell. I stripped the outer pods, and was left with some winged seeds. They taste very mild, so I am going to dress them with some olive oil and have them as a starter with some roasted red peppers, olives etc.
The seeds offer individuals more benefit and nutirtional value when eaten uncooked. The seeds contain very high Oleic Acid. As a fat, oleic acid is one of the better ones to consume. As a replacement for other saturated fats, it can lower total cholesterol level and raise levels of high-density lipoproteins (HDLs) while lowering low-density lipoproteins (LDLs), also known as the “bad” cholesterol. Usually switching to an oil high in oleic acid is not difficult since there are numerous sources available.
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