Called the "monkey orange" or "matamba" in Zimbabwe, I laughed when I recently heard the South African name for this fruit for the first time. "Monkey apple balls," as they are called, are a gently sweet and sour fruit found throughout the country in a number of places, but usually not on a grocery shelf. Though I've introduced these matamba fruits before in their mucus-y edible state, they are actually much more commonly seen as a decorative item. Here are a few of their uses once dried:
decorative candleholders
salt and pepper shakers with a re-used plastic lid as a stand/refill plug
filled with small gravel and attached to sticks to make musical maracas
painted, carved, and polished as decorative balls or Christmas ornaments
