My boy;
I am an old woman today but I came from England as a young girl and went to Rhodesia first and then from there to South Africa to start up Dairy Farms after the war.
Both these countries were British Colonies then and England had an obligation to restore their economies then so a few of us were trained in various forms of agriculture to get things going again.
Rhodesia had the most fertile soil in Africa in my opinion and grew lots and lots of tobacco, fruit, lucern and so on without much trouble at all.
The weather is quite warm to hot and the rainfall regular.
They mined diamonds from shallow mines or even streams by delving method and everyone was prosperous.
Food was plentiful and it was called "The food basket of Africa"..
Cars were imported as was much else of Technical sort but things like iron oar was mined there and the raw products were exported.
It was largely an agricultural community with few cities and several towns that were spaced far apart.
The farmers there were largely self sufficient as far as food production went and every farmer's wife baked their own breads, made their own jams and processed their own meat products all a produce of their own efforts on their farms.
Here is a recipe from Rhodesia that you might find interesting.
Farmer folk used to try out anything and made use of the wild growing flora for food.
This one is very special because Alo plants grew wild there at one time....
Aloe Jam
Cut the older leaves from the stem where the leaves are thickest
Place upright with cut end to the bottom so that as much sap can drain as is possible. Stand for a day or so...
Trim point edges and tips so that the portions that are left would all be about 10 mm thick, otherwise the pieces are too thin tomake jam from...
Cut the white or transparent pieces in to about 30 mm squares and peel each one from top to bottom
Soak in clean water for a few hours, and rinse under running water when done. There must be no yellowy bits left afer rinsing.
Prick each portion well with a fork
Lie overnight in lime rich water by adding 2 table spoons of lime powder to the water that covers the aloe. Lime is generally available from pharmacies.
Idealy you would dissolve lime in warm water before adding to aloe portions.
Next day, rinse aloe portions again in running water
Weigh out the following;
For every 2,7 KG aloe, you would use 3.2 KG sugar
About 4 table spoons of lemon juice is handy because it would preven jam turning in to sand sugar.
Boil aloe for about 30 minutes in clean water and drain.
In the mean while, do the syrup...
Add the portions of aloe one by one so that the sypur does not stop boiling
Allow to simmer for about 1 ½ hours until aloe portions become transperant and the syrup thickens.
Stand the aloe portion in the syrup over night so that the aloe can absorb the syrup.
Next day, remove the aloe while heating the syrup again. Replace the aloe portions back in to syrup once it is heated.
Bring to the boil.
Place the aloe portions in to hot, sterilized bottles and cover with syrup before sealing.