When used as cooking spice, it adds a slightly sweet yet stringent flavor that imbues dishes and drinks with a fragrant, sugary aroma. The purplish-brown fruit of the aidan tree, prekese peaks from September to December. Long, curving pods hang from the tips of branches clad with small green leaves and flowers that shift from creamy pink to deep orange in spring. Prekese — also known as prɛkɛsɛ (soup perfume), oshosho, osakirisa, ubukirihu or aidan fruit — is a medicinal plant of the aidan tree, commonly used as a cooking spice which adds a slightly sweet yet stringent flavor that imbues dishes and drinks with a fragrant, sugary aroma. Native to West Tropical Africa, aidan trees, which can grow up to 25 meters (~82 feet) tall, are full of therapeutic qualities. The fruit has long been celebrated for its anti-inflammatory properties and a host of other health benefits.
