Bitter cola: Medicinal values, Farming, extraction, marketing, and other uses

Bitter cola, often referred to as the African wonder nut, comes from Garcia Kola trees which grow in coastal rain forests in parts of Cameroon, Nigeria, Garbon and other African countries with coastal rain forests

Believed Medical values
Traditionally, these nuts were chewed as a masticatory substance to stimulate the flow of saliva but today they are widely consumed as a snack, food that you eat between meals.

These nuts contain large amounts of caffeine (substance that keeps you awake) and other stimulants like theobromine, kolatin and glucose. Bitter cola is also believed to be an aphrodisiac (makes people want to have sex). Unlike other cola nuts (cola nitida, cola acuminate), bitter cola is thought to clean the digestive system, without side effects such as abdominal problems, even when a lot of nuts are eaten. 

Culturally bitter cola is an important part of life from birth to death in certain West African communities as it is not only used for traditional ceremony, marking special events like births, marriages and the conferring of chieftaincy. In some communities during marriage proposals young men offer cola nuts to the father of the bride and an exchange of cola nuts is essential in many business dealings as well.

Multiple Uses
In herbal medicine which is an integral part of life in this part of Africa, the fruit pulp is used for the treatment of jaundice, or high fever, while the bark of the tree is used in medicinal preparations to help heal various ailments.

The nuts are also dried, ground and mixed with honey to make a traditional cough mixture. In the last three to four years ground nuts has also been used as an industrial bitter agent in some Nigerian breweries. The hard wood of the bitter cola is not often used for timber or firewood, but the stems branches and roots are commonly used in the production of chew sticks.

Cultivation
Garcinia kola trees grow in humid rainforests near the coast as a medium sized tree that can tolerate shade. However deforestation in recent years has drastically reduced the number of these trees growing in the wild. Over the last decade Garcinia kola trees have been increasingly cultivated in secondary forests, as a component tree in plantations, or in agro forestry systems.

The trees are planted from seed and bear fruit after 10 to 12 years. At its peak, a mature tree yields on average, almost 500 fruits and 1700 nuts each year.
For example in Nigeria almost 70% of bitter cola is produced from natural or secondary forests in government reserves, the rest comes from trees growing in cocoa/cola combined plots and from oil palm/cassava farms and home gardens.

Extracting and marketing the nuts
The fruit pulp is collected after falling to the ground and is kept until its orange coloured, velvety skin softens. This may take five to six days. Extracting the nuts is a simple household affair that is not very labour intensive. The harvest is thrashed to release each fruit’s three to four kernels. These are referred to as bitter cola nuts as soon as the fruit pulp is thoroughly washed off. At this point the nuts are ready for eating fresh or can be air dried and stored in a cool, dry place. Both the fresh and dried nuts are appreciated by rural and urban populations.

In most countries where bitter cola is grown, it can be found in both local and nearby city markets, like the case of Nigeria. In Cameroon apart from markets young men knowing how much the population is attached to this cola, hawk their wares around parks, roadsides and other places where people are on transit. You also fine bitter cola in roadside kiosk in major cities and towns in the northern part of the West African region, (Cameroon inclusive). The trade in bitter cola is worth an estimated 50000US dollar a year in Nigeria. 

Processing bitter cola takes time but entails little or no cost to the farmers involved in this activity. The resulting income has helped poor rural farmers pay school fees and materials or household goods.

Bitter cola’s increasing commercial value means it is important for farmers to cultivate rather than rely on the dwindling wild supplies.
For example, the nuts are more profitable than any other forest resource in Nigeria. In one season, a family can collect an average of three baskets of bitter cola weighing 25kg. This generates about 24US dollars in family income. The ability to store the nuts and use them fresh or dried makes this a wonderful versatile and wonderful product.