Potentially Potash
…Ikaun... Kaun... Akaun...
So I’m out here in the Ancient city of Benin and guess what, I was treated to a nice dish of owo soup and plantain with fish. Damn!!! I won’t tell you how you can eat this but all I know is, you just have to eat it. Hehehe
Do you know what Kaun is? Some Nigerian tribes call it akaun, some call it ikaun while some others call it kaun. The English name however is, Potash. It is a general name for minerals or inorganic compounds that contain potassium. It is made from the ashes of burnt wood in iron pot. The name was derived from the process “pot-ash".
Potash originated from the 14th century Ethiopia.
Because in Nigeria we call it Kaun, ikaun or Akaun as against the English name, Potash, I will be using the names interchangeably.
In this part of the world (Africa), Kaun is used in cooking, soap making and also for herbal medications. Whereas, in other parts of the world, Kaun is used for fertilization of crops, glass making, manufacturing purposes and a few others.
Kaun has a salty taste which is sometimes ashy and has a fine metallic texture. It looks and tastes just like the salt from the bed of the sea.
There are special uses of ikaun in different dishes which many people may not know about. I will specifically tell you how you can use akaun the way I use mine.
- I use akaun when cooking ponmo (cow skin or leg) especially the female cows which are so hard to prepare. So I use a tablespoon full of ground akaun in the water while boiling the ponmo. It helps soften it quickly without wasting so much gas. This can also help improve the taste of the ponmo without you adding salt.
- When cooking beans (which I’m sure you know is my favorite by now), I equally add potash to help soften it quickly. I could drop in a little bulb of potash, it will melt and spread in the pot before steering it later on.
- You can add ikaun when cooking snail as well. It helps improve the taste.
- Have you ever heard of (ogwho ofigbon) owo soup? So that is one of the soups of the Bini people (where I come from). Ikaun as it is called in my local dialect as well, is added to owo when the first mixture is being made. It is made by blending tomatoes, onion and pepper like stew. Then it is steamed and ikaun is added to the steaming pepper to make it lighter in consistency and to give it a different taste from normal steamed pepper. After this is done, fresh palm oil is added to enjoy richly with boiled plantain, yam and fish or snail. Yummy right? I know.
- Potash is an ingredient added to soap. It aids solubility and it makes it foam quickly making it durable and last longer. If you are female and you use the African black soap for your natural hair, it is made with potash which also helps in strengthening your black hair.
- Potash is used as a fertilizer. It helps in improving the soil on which plants grow or better still, it helps in making plants grow healthily and stronger.
The potentials of potash is easily underrated but should never be. People in the Southern parts of Nigeria know the potentials of potash and that is why they are best known for their rich soups, stews and dishes.
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Don’t forget: Variety is the Spice of life! *wink*
