NASTERGAL/AFRICAN NIGHTSHADE x 25+ seeds

Black nightshade (Solanum retroflexum) is an annual herb-like plant that originated in South Africa. It is also known as sunberry, nastergal, Umsobo, muxe, umsobo wesinja, umosobosobo and lintsontso.

Nastergal (African Nightshade berry) a wild plant that grows only on the Highveld of Mpumalanga, and the Free State. The jam is sold as an exotic product and is a small berry that can only be handpicked when ripe, which makes it very labour intensive.

What are the ways to eat black nightshade? Raw is good, as long as the fruit is ripe and black.

Black nightshade fruits in clusters.

Edible black nightshade fruits occur in clusters. And you almost always see clusters of ripe as well as green fruit on the plant at the same time. The fruit skins have a matte appearanceno shine. On black nightshade the calyces (the green bits like lapels or a collar between stem and fruit) are smaller than the fruit.

Black nightshade has tiny, star-like white flowers with prominent yellow anthers. They look like the flowers of the tomatoes, peppers, and other nightshades we routinely eat.

The green, unripe fruit of black nightshade are considered toxic, so avoid those (the same way you would avoid a toxic green potato).