Anchote, Shifera & Samma: Ethiopia's Indigenous Superfoods

Before "superfood" was a marketing word, Ethiopia's farmers and foragers had already built a portfolio of them — indigenous crops the wider world is only beginning to study.

Anchote (እንጮቴ) — the Oromo tuber

Anchote is the Afan Oromo name for Coccinia abyssinica, a drought-resistant tuber crop indigenous to Ethiopia, originating particularly in the Oromia Region. Boiled and mashed with spiced butter, anchote is a western-Ethiopian delicacy — and folk tradition holds it strengthens bones and speeds the healing of fractures, a reputation researchers now link to its remarkable calcium content. It appears at Meskel celebrations the way pumpkin appears at Thanksgiving.

Shifera (ሽፈራው) — the miracle tree

Moringa stenopetala, known in Ethiopia as Shifera, is very common in the south, where the stem, seeds, and leaves all provide good nutritional value — the seeds boiled or roasted, the roots prepared into sauce, the leaves cooked like collards into a deeply nourishing gomen. Drought-tolerant and absurdly nutrient-dense, shifera is the tree that feeds when fields can't.

Samma (ሳማ) — the wild nettle

Samma is an Ethiopian species of nettle — thorny and bitter — cooked into a gomen-like wot by some Ethiopian cultures. Handled boldly and boiled well, the sting vanishes and what remains is one of the most mineral-rich greens anywhere: forager's food, famine insurance, and quietly delicious.

Why they matter now

Climate-resilient, nutrient-dense, and grown nowhere else — these crops are Ethiopia's quiet answer to the future of food. The world is catching up to what the highlands always knew.

Taste indigenous Ethiopia in the pantry: Bula, Teff, and the whole Spices & Pantry collection.