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Ogiri (egusi melon seed)ògìrì

Ogiri egusi is a pungent, oily seasoning paste from melon seeds. The seeds are boiled to loosen their coats, shelled, boiled again, wrapped in leaves and kept warm while Bacillus bacteria break down their protein and the mass turns alkaline.

Fully documentedOther5.3 days

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceLaboratory batch from a 2025 Nigerian study that followed local practice; it was split into 200 g portions after shelling. The sources give no market-producer amounts.
Melon seeds, sorted and washed1.5 kg[oladeji2025]
Boiling water3.0 LFor the first boil, to loosen the pericarp[oladeji2025]
Thaumatococcus daniellii leavesBlanched; used to wrap the seeds and later to pack the paste for sale[oladeji2025]
Newbouldia laevis (akoko) or Icacina trichantha (gbegbe) leavesOptional; boiled with the seeds for flavour; producers say they keep maggots away[oladeji2025]

Total time across the recorded steps: 5.3 days

Start
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What changes: Starting material: melon seeds boiled until their thin coats loosen

Step 1 of 6
Boil the seeds to loosen the coats
Time
30 min
Reported
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Bacillus

Output: seeds with softened pericarp.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

Not documented for this step.

Method

Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source

At a glance

Ogiri egusi is a pungent, oily seasoning paste from melon seeds. The seeds are boiled to loosen their coats, shelled, boiled again, wrapped in leaves and kept warm while Bacillus bacteria break down their protein and the mass turns alkaline. Made in 6 steps over 5.3 days. The longest step, ferment warm in the parcels, takes 5 days (Oladeji O.A 2025) and runs at 36–40 °C (Oladeji O.A 2025). Bacillus subtilis does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step5 daysReported[oladeji2025]Ferment warm in the parcels
Temperature36–40 °CReported[oladeji2025]Ferment warm in the parcels
AciditypH 7.5–7.8Measured[oladeji2025]Ferment warm in the parcels

What makes this one different

Ogiri egusi uses oily melon seeds where iru uses locust beans. The seeds need only short boils, not the long boil that hard locust beans need, and the paste is softer and oilier.

Related ferments

Variants

  • Ogiri boiled with akoko or gbegbe leavesSeeds boiled with Newbouldia laevis or Icacina trichantha leaves; the N. laevis batch scored best for taste and aroma in a study.
  • Fluted-pumpkin and castor-seed ogiriFluted pumpkin (Telfairia) seed follows a similar process. Castor seed contains ricin, a deadly toxin, and this short boil is not for it; see ogiri and ogiri-igbo.

Safety

In one study, the single market sample carried S. aureus, E. coli and Enterobacter, and S. aureus also grew in lab batches fermented in foil or an airtight container. Ogiri is easily colonised by moulds. Aflatoxin B1 was found in 15 of 31 market samples, at 3–4 µg/kg against the 2 µg/kg EC limit the study cites, so start from clean, sound seed. Cooking ogiri into a dish does not remove aflatoxin, because most mycotoxins survive food processing [who2023]. Never use castor seed with this method. It contains ricin, which can kill [sousa2017]; do not make castor ogiri at home.

Hazards the sources name: Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Enterobacter and Candida albicans, isolated from the one market sample tested; S. aureus also from lab batches fermented in foil or an airtight container; Aflatoxin B1 in 15 of 31 market ogiri samples (48 %, 3–4 µg/kg) and ochratoxin A in 6 of 31 (19 %, Table 4; the paper's text says all ogiri samples were positive for ochratoxin A, so the two disagree).

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

Melon condiment is commonly made by uncontrolled solid-state fermentation, with slight variations in the process across communities in Africa [oladeji2025].

Starter
The sources we found do not say how its fermentation begins.
  1. [oladeji2025] Oladeji O.A., Ogidi C.O. 2025, Enhancing the nutritional and microbiological properties of fermented melon condiment (ogiri) using Newbouldia laevis and Icacina trichantha leaves, Preventive Nutrition and Food Science 30(3):285, doi:10.3746/pnf.2025.30.3.285paper
  2. [olanbiwoninu2026] Olanbiwoninu A.A. et al. 2026, Ethnogeographic distribution of Nigerian fermented foods and the prospects for bioeconomy improvements, Foods 15(17):3087, doi:10.3390/foods15173087paper
  3. [adekoya2017] Adekoya I., Njobeh P., Obadina A., Chilaka C., Okoth S., De Boevre M., De Saeger S. 2017, Awareness and prevalence of mycotoxin contamination in selected Nigerian fermented foods, Toxins 9(11):363, doi:10.3390/toxins9110363paper
  4. [who2023] World Health Organization 2023, Mycotoxins, fact sheet (2 October 2023) (general safety text only)gov
  5. [sousa2017] Sousa N.L., Cabral G.B., Vieira P.M., Baldoni A.B., Aragão F.J.L. 2017, Bio-detoxification of ricin in castor bean (Ricinus communis L.) seeds, Scientific Reports 7:15385, doi:10.1038/s41598-017-15636-7paper
  6. [wp-ogiri] English Wikipedia, Ogiri (names only)wiki