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| Place of origin | South Africa |
|---|---|
Mebos is a South African food made from dried apricots seasoned with sugar or salt.
The Khoekhoe traditionally prepared fruit by cutting them into pieces and cooking without water into a thick syrup. The syrup was dried in the sun for a few days on a flat rock, and then sliced into sections.[1]
Later, during the colonial era, the Dutch East India Company brought apricots from Europe.[2] The local apricot trees were highly productive, but produced short-lasting fruit, and these were then preserved with brandy or salt.[1]
The word 'mebos' derives either from the Japanese 'umeboshi', sun-dried ume, a fruit closely related to apricots,[1] the Malay word "membas", meaning to marinate or preserve,[3] or the Arabic "mush mush", for apricot.[4]
Brought to the Dutch Cape Colony by slaves from South East Asia, the earliest references to mebos were medical, but later it became known as a treat. The English author and translator Lady Duff-Gordon was described as having little love for Cape cuisine, but wrote about buying "Some 'confyt'; apricots salted and then sugared, called ‘mebos’ – delicious!"[1]
South African author Olive Schreiner wrote in The Story of an African Farm about sending a character to "Go and buy sixpence of meiboss (sic) from the Malay round the corner."[1]
Later, mebos were spread further into South Africa by the Voortrekkers, and it is mentioned in a Boer folk song: "Tante Mina kook, o sy kook die mebos stroop, Uit die bai’lekker app’kose daar op die grond" ("Aunt Mina cooks, oh she cooks the mebos syrup, from the very tasty apricots there on the ground").[1]
The word is sometimes used to describe related foods, such as sugary minced fruit squares or dried fruit rolls.[4]
