|
The kola nut’s name might recall the world’s most globalized beverage, but the two have little in common. The kola nut is the fruit of the kola tree, which belongs to the same family as cacao, Malvaceae. The tree is native to the tropical forests of West Africa, and still grows wild in Sierra Leone and Liberia. There are around 140 species of kola, but the most widely consumed in Africa are the wild Cola acuminata, also known as small or bitter kola, and the cultivated Cola nitida, known as big kola or kola nut. Cola acuminata is brown, while Cola nitida can be of different colors, ranging from yellow to pink to red when fresh and from brown to dark red when dried. The fruits contain caffeine, kolatin, theobromine and tannic acid.
|
