Baobab cake

Rosby Mthinda with a giant apple, baobab, blueberry, banana, carrot, orange and pomegranate cake prepared for the annual festival

A little-known African fruit is to be celebrated with a week of festivities at the Eden Project in Cornwall.

The Baobab Festival is dedicated to showing visitors how the fruit – six times richer in vitamin C than oranges – is grown, harvested and used in food and drink.

Baobab trees are native to tropical African countries, and can live for thousands of years.

The Eden Project is working with PhytoTrade Africa to support the farmers and harvesters who grow the fruit by promoting its unique flavour and health-giving properties.

Tracey Smith, Eden’s commercial manager, said: “We’re very excited to be able to bring our celebration of the remarkable baobab fruit back to Eden for the second year running.

“Baobab is a fabulous ingredient in both food and drink, is incredibly good for you and its increased popularity makes a real difference to the African growers.”

During the festival, which runs from runs from September 22-28, visitors will have the opportunity to meet Rosby Mthinda, who works with baobab growers in Malawi.