Manzirufu fruits (Hymenaea verrucosa)

Scientific name: Hymenaea verrucosa
Family: Caesalpinaceae (Fabaceae)
Synonyms: Trachylobium hornemannianum Hayne
Trachylobium mossambicense Klotzsch.

Trachylobium verrucosum (Gaertn.) Oliv.

Common names: Zanzibar Copal, Copal East Africa, Gum

Manzirufu

This medium-sized tree produces a fruit, or rather, a small silique, containing one or two seeds, its peculiarity lies in the swollen resin bladders in the pericarp area. This characteristic gives the name to the species, precisely verrucosa.

Distribution and habitat
Indian Ocean, East Africa, Indonesia, Australia, lives in humid areas on the edges of forests.

Used by local people for the Tromba ceremony, from animistic beliefs ritual ceremonies are held to invoke the souls of the deceased, sometimes to get advice, other times to give them a final farewell and make sure they pass beyond the plane of this world.
It can be used in fumigations to invoke good luck and keep away perverse energies, in fact its spicy, pungent aroma with sweet hints can be used for both functions, given that whatever we use is our own energy that is projected into the intent.

Anciently used to extract precious resin in the preparation of paints, its wood was also used, as it is hard and resistant.

Aroma: Woody, spicy, sweetish hints, dried apricot

A “fun” experiment is to try to cut the end of the blisters and place a piece of the fruit peel on the lit coal, you will see the resin slowly come out as it melts.
It is possible that some fruits inside there are some insects, but I treated the whole batch by putting them in the freezer for 48 hours, then open them with a knife, clean the inside, do not use the seed (it does not have a good aroma), at this point you can pulverize the whole peel or place it on the charcoal in small pieces.