Oha Leaves

This large bean tree (to 114 feet) is native to West Africa and the northern part of Central Africa. The leaves are particularly used in soups and the like in Nigeria. The leaves contain hydrogen cyanide and oxalate, but not so high as to pose a danger. The photo is actually Pterocarpus indicus, but the leaves and fruit look very much the same, and the leaves of that tree have also been used as a vegetable.   Photo by Forest & Kim Starr distributed under license Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike v3.0 Unported, attribution required, notificatio appreciated.

More on Beans, Peas and Lentils.

These leaves are much used in Nigeria, particularly for use in in Oha Soup, which is quite popular there. They are used fresh and h andled carefully, often as halves with the central stem removed.

Buying:   These leaves can be found dried on the Internet, but in Nigeria they are used fresh.

Prep:   Cut these leaves only when they are about to go into the soup, as they blacken quickly when damaged.