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Fig. 8 | Journal of Ethnic Foods

Fig. 8

From: An ethno-nutritional study on spices used in traditional foods of the Western Regions of Cameroon: the case of nah poh

Fig. 8

a Crude palm oil is one of the main components for the preparation of the nah poh. It is produced from the fruit Elaeis guineensis. Far back in the past when roads were not available, it was a valuable food product in the western high land regions of Cameroon where nah poh originated. It is one of the reasons while a cultural value is attached to nah poh up till our days. b Kanwa is the name given to natron in the western highland regions of Cameroon, were it is used as emulsifying agent for the preparation of nah poh. It is also used for the preparation of many traditional dishes. It is a lake deposit and is used to eliminate toxic secondary metabolites from foods during preparation. c Niky is a processed emulsifying agent which is used to substitute kanwa. It is preferred by certain ethnic groups over kanwa. It is obtained from incineration of dried banana peeling under controlled oxygen conditions. The form of niky presented here is mostly produced in the North-West Region. In other places, ash extracted is used to substitute as niky. d A plate of achu and nah poh. Nah poh is the yellow liquid at the centre, and achu the white paste. This is how the meal is usually arranged in the plate for consumption; it is the traditional way of doing it. This way of serving the meal is respected in all the places where nah poh is offered by a person from the western highland regions of Cameroon all over the world

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