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These spinach-like leaves are added to a pot of boiling water along with salt and spices, locust beans and melon seeds.

At one of Mbaye's dinners, he started his meal with a creamy, earthy Black-eyed pea soup with locust bean, crab, and a drizzle of palm oil.

Examples include gellan gum, locust bean gum, soy lecithin and, in the case of oat milk, vegetable oil.

It is perfect for a Nigerian palate, which favours big and bold flavours such as fermented locust beans and chilli pepper, says young chef Michael Elegbde.

Seeds in the pod are used to make locust bean gum, a thickening agent widely used in food.