This guide brings together all the ingredients of African and Caribbean cuisine sold by NKOSI, classified by main families: spices and condiments, flours and legumes, drinks and dried fruits. For the ingredients we sell, the product page serves as the guide: names, uses, preparation, frequently asked questions. The other guides explain the ingredient's origin, composition and culinary use, and link to the corresponding recipes and products.
What are the main families of ingredients in African and Caribbean cuisine?
African and Caribbean cuisine relies on ingredients passed down from generation to generation: fermented condiments, tuber flours, legumes, infused drinks and dried fruits. The guides below detail each ingredient one by one; this page brings them together by family to make searching easier.
Spices, condiments and sauces
- Soumbala (netetou): a fermented condiment made from néré seeds, used to season broths and sauces in West Africa.
- Peanut paste and mafé: the base of Senegalese and Malian mafé sauce, and its culinary uses.
- Okra: the vegetable that thickens sauces, its cooking and its uses.
Find all these products in our African spices and sauces range.
Flours, starchy foods and legumes
- Cassava: the tuber and its derivatives, attiéké, foutou and gari.
- Plantain: aloko, foutou and other culinary uses of plantain.
- Yam: the yam varieties and their preparation into foutou.
- Fonio: the West African cereal and how to cook it.
- Black-eyed pea flour: black-eyed pea flour, a common legume in West Africa.
- White beans (cocos): a dried legume for slow-cooked dishes.
The African flours and starchy foods range brings these products together.
Drinks, powders and dried fruits
- Bissap: the dried hibiscus flower and the red juice made from it.
- Baobab: the pulp of the baobab fruit, as powder or juice (bouye).
- Tamarind: the tangy fruit, its paste and its use in drinks and sauces.
- Moringa: the dried leaves and their use as powder.
- Petit cola: the bitter nut chewed in West Africa, its uses and its precautions.
The African drinks range brings together these infusions and juices.
Cuisines by country and region
Beyond the ingredient, each region has its own uses. See our two regional cuisine guides: overview of African food by region and Moroccan and Maghrebi cuisine. Our ranges by country include Senegalese cuisine, Cameroonian cuisine, Moroccan and Maghrebi cuisine and Caribbean and Creole cuisine.
Emblematic recipes to discover
- Chicken yassa: the Senegalese recipe with onions and lemon.
- Ndolé: the Cameroonian national dish with bitter leaves and peanut paste.
- Chicken mafé: the Senegalese and Malian peanut paste sauce.
Where to find these ingredients in France?
All the products presented in these guides are sold by NKOSI and delivered to mainland France and ten other European countries. Browse our whole African and Caribbean grocery to put together your order.
