I wanted to bring a gift of some description and was mulling this problem over- finally decided to bring the baobab fruit that I had bought on the side of the road  between Djenne and Bamako as I was leaving for Europe. The fruits were no longer as pretty as they had been when I bought them, when they had been covered in a light green moss like ‘velvet’.  This had dried and discoloured, but would nevertheless provide an exotic gift I thought, and I had also got a plastic bag of the baobab powder which is derived from the inside of the fruit, dried and pounded. This powder is used for making juice. It would be good with some gin I thought- fortunately my hosts were adventurous enough to let me try out my new cocktails on them after Mass on Sunday (held in a little chapel in the grounds). My hunch was correct- the baobab juice is delicious with gin. It will be our new Djenne Djenno cocktail and it will be called the Mells Baobab cocktail.

I hope Raymond is going to plant a baobab in his greenhouse- I think the seeds are found in the fruit...