As a natural juice maker I pride myself in being able to rise up to the challenge of juicing any fruit or vegetable that comes my way.
My friends tease me and say, if you step into Labake’s  “factory” you can be juiced (meet my alter ego). So when my friend Tolu Ifabiyi requested Agbalumo juice from me, I surprised myself by dodging the request. I don’t care much for agbalumo, I eat it, but I won’t go out of my way to and would most likely decline it if I’m offered.

Agbalumo by the way is called African Star Apple, I only wonder why we were told it is cherry when we were growing up.

A pleasant old woman who really wanted to sell her wares yesterday offered me a small basket for 100 naira in the fruit market yesterday, she was so sweet I couldn’t say no to her. 
So i took on Tolu ‘ s challenge and made the Agbalumo Nectar  and I was pleasantly surprised, however there is no way I would agree to do this commercially!
What is NECTAR? Click the link for definition.

Recipe
Agbalumo
Pitted Dates (this replaces sugar, if you can’t find dates use honey)
Water

Procedure
Peel the back of the Agbalumo, separate the seeds from the flesh.
The covering on the Agbalumo seed is the really sweet part of agbalumo. In a food processor, add some water and pulse the seeds to remove the covering from them. Pour through a seive or wire mesh to strain the juice you collect from them. You can now discard the seeds.
In a blender, blend the flesh of the Agbalumo with the pitted dates and water.
Pour in a seive and strain.
Mix the juice you collected from the seeds with the juice you collected from the flesh and pour into a glass filled with ice.

• Drinks, Smoothies, Juices,