# Zuidvaal Exotic Jams — Full Guides > First-hand guides to nastergal (Solanum nigrum / umsobo) and nastergal konfyt, written on Bloukop Farm. Source: https://www.zuidvaal.co.za/blog # What Is a Nastergal? The Wild African Berry Behind Our Konfyt URL: https://www.zuidvaal.co.za/blog/what-is-a-nastergal Nastergal (umsobo) is a wild South African berry. What it is, whether it's safe to eat, how it tastes, and where to buy nastergal konfyt online. A nastergal is a small, dark wild berry from the African nightshade family (*Solanum nigrum* / *Solanum retroflexum*), known in Afrikaans as nastergal and in isiZulu as umsobo or msobo. When fully ripe it turns a deep, glossy purple-black, tastes mildly sweet and gently earthy with a soft tomato-like tang, and is the berry we hand-harvest on our Highveld farm to make traditional nastergal konfyt. It grows wild across Southern Africa and is sometimes called sunberry or wonderberry in English. Importantly, the *ripe* black berries are widely eaten and have been for generations — it is the *unripe green* berries you must leave alone, and this is not the same plant as the toxic "deadly nightshade." We explain all of that, carefully, below. ## Nastergal at a glance If you only read one section, read this one. - **What it is:** a small wild berry of the African (black) nightshade family — botanically *Solanum nigrum* / *Solanum retroflexum*. - **Names:** nastergal (Afrikaans), umsobo / msobo (isiZulu), and sunberry or wonderberry in English. - **Is it edible? Yes — when ripe.** The fully ripe, dark purple-black berries are the part traditionally eaten and preserved. The unripe green berries should not be eaten (more on the why below). - **Taste:** mildly sweet, slightly earthy, with a gentle tomato-like tang. - **Colour:** deep purple-black, thanks to natural pigments called anthocyanins. - **Where it grows:** wild across Southern Africa, including the Mpumalanga Highveld where we farm. - **What we make from it:** nastergal konfyt — whole berries preserved in a deep purple syrup. That is the short version. Because this is a berry that carries a few honest "yes, but" caveats, the rest of this article unpacks each one properly. ## What does nastergal look and taste like? A nastergal plant is a low, soft-stemmed bush rather than a tree. It carries small white star-shaped flowers, and after those flowers fade it sets clusters of little round berries that look a bit like miniature tomatoes — which makes sense, because tomatoes are cousins in the same broad plant family. The berries start out green and hard. As they ripen they swell, soften, and deepen through to a rich, almost-black purple. That dark colour comes from anthocyanins, the same family of natural pigments that give blueberries, blackberries and red cabbage their deep hues. The taste is what surprises people. A ripe nastergal berry is **mildly sweet** with a **slightly earthy** note and a **gentle, savoury tang** that lands somewhere between a ripe tomato and a soft summer berry. It is not a sugary fruit-bowl sweetness — it is more grown-up than that, which is exactly why it works so well alongside cheese and roasted meat. Cooked down into konfyt with a little sugar, that earthy tang mellows into something warm, glossy and quietly sophisticated, with a deep wine-dark colour in the jar. ## Nastergal, umsobo, msobo: one berry, many names Few wild foods carry as many names as this one, and that is part of its charm. The name simply changes with the language and the region. - In **Afrikaans**, it is **nastergal** — the name most South Africans know it by, and the one on our label. - In **isiZulu**, it is **umsobo** (sometimes written **msobo**), a name used widely for the berry and the dishes made from it across the country. - In **English**, you will see it called **sunberry**, **wonderberry**, **blackberry nightshade** or simply **black nightshade**. All of these point to the same edible berry of the *Solanum nigrum* / *S. retroflexum* group — what botanists often call the "African nightshade" or "black nightshade" complex. We mention this because the word "nightshade" understandably makes some people nervous. So let's deal with that head-on. ## Is nastergal poisonous? The ripe-vs-unripe rule This is the question we are asked most, so we want to answer it clearly and responsibly rather than wave it away. **The honest short answer:** ripe nastergal berries are edible and have been eaten across Africa for generations — but unripe green berries should not be eaten. The rule worth remembering is simple: **ripe and dark is the eating stage; green is not.** Here is why. Like many plants in the nightshade family (including the green parts of potatoes and tomatoes), the unripe green berries and the leaves of nastergal contain a natural compound called **solanine**. Solanine is bitter and can cause stomach upset, which is the plant's own defence while the fruit is still developing. As the berry ripens and turns from green through to deep purple-black, that compound drops to very low levels, and the fruit becomes both palatable and the part people traditionally eat. This is precisely why nastergal is always harvested fully ripe, and why we cook only the dark, soft, ready berries. Two further points matter, and we want to be straight about them: 1. **This is not "deadly nightshade."** People sometimes confuse nastergal with *Atropa belladonna*, the genuinely dangerous plant known as deadly nightshade. They are different plants. Belladonna carries large, shiny single berries and purple bell-shaped flowers and contains powerful toxins; nastergal carries small matte berries in little clusters and white star-shaped flowers. Nastergal is a long-eaten African food plant — belladonna is not. We make our konfyt from nastergal, never belladonna. 2. **Foraging is for the experienced — and we've done it for you.** Correctly identifying a wild plant and judging true ripeness takes real knowledge, and look-alike plants exist. We would never encourage casual roadside foraging. The reassuring part is that you don't have to: every berry in a jar of our konfyt has been identified, hand-selected at full ripeness, and cooked by people who have harvested this fruit for years. That is rather the point of buying it from us. So — **is nastergal poisonous?** Not when it's the ripe berry, prepared the way it has always been prepared. The caution is real but specific, and it sits squarely with the green, unripe fruit and the leaves — not with the dark berries in your konfyt. ## Where nastergal grows and how we harvest it Nastergal grows wild across much of Southern Africa, often appearing on its own in disturbed ground and field edges after good rains. You cannot really plant a field of it and call it a crop in the usual sense — it comes up where it wants to, which is part of why true wild nastergal konfyt has always been a small, special thing. We farm at **Bloukop Farm near Amersfoort**, in the Mpumalanga Highveld. Each year, for a short window in **late summer — roughly February into March** — the wild nastergal on the farm ripens. It is a narrow season. The berries are **hand-harvested**, picked one ripe cluster at a time, because there is no machine that can tell a ripe berry from a green one the way an experienced hand and eye can. The Zuidvaal name has a story of its own. The brand was founded in **2004 by Marie de Jager**, who built its reputation on properly made traditional preserves. In **2024**, our family — **Loutjie and Zelda-Mari du Toit** — took it over. We make it now on our own farm, Bloukop — a next-door farm in the same district — with the same recipes and the same hand-harvested wild nastergal. You can read more about that handover and our family on [our story page](/story). ## From berry to jar: why nastergal konfyt is special To understand why nastergal konfyt is genuinely rare, you need to understand two things: what konfyt actually is, and why this particular berry almost never reaches a shop counter fresh. **Jam or konfyt?** In everyday South African use the two words are used interchangeably — you'll hear our nastergal called both nastergal jam and nastergal konfyt, and either is right. There's a subtle traditional difference worth knowing: **jam** is crushed fruit cooked to a spreadable pulp, while **konfyt** keeps the fruit *whole* or in chunks so each piece holds its shape and character. Ours is made the whole-berry, konfyt way — dark nastergal berries glistening in a deep purple syrup, a preserve you can see the fruit in, not a smooth spread. It is the more traditional, more painstaking method, and it shows. **The berries can't travel.** Ripe nastergal is **fragile**. The fully ripe berries are soft and delicate, and they bruise and spoil very quickly once picked — which is exactly why you almost never see fresh nastergal for sale anywhere. The fruit has to be **cooked close to where it is picked**, while it is at its peak, often within hours. That single fact is the whole reason nastergal konfyt is uncommon: it simply cannot be shipped fresh to a factory. It has to be made by people on the farm, in season, by hand. When you open a jar of ours, you are tasting a fruit that most South Africans have never seen in its fresh state. You can see the full range on [our products page](/products). ## How to enjoy nastergal konfyt Because nastergal carries that gentle savoury-sweet, tomato-like tang, it is far more versatile than a typical breakfast jam. Here are the three ways we love it most. - **On a cheese board.** This is where nastergal konfyt truly shines. Its earthy depth is a natural partner for cheese — spoon it alongside a soft **brie**, a salty **blue**, or a **mature cheddar**, and let the dark syrup cut through the richness. It does for a cheese board what fig preserve does, but with more character. - **On warm scones with cream.** The classic. Split a fresh, still-warm scone, add a generous curl of cream, and top it with whole nastergal berries in their syrup. The deep colour against the cream looks as good as it tastes. - **As a glaze for braai and game.** This is the secret weapon. Loosen a few spoons of konfyt and brush it over **lamb chops** or **venison** in the last minutes on the coals. The sugars caramelise and the tang balances the fat, giving you a glossy, deeply savoury glaze. If you cater or run a kitchen and want to put this on a menu, have a look at our [wholesale and trade options](/wholesale-apply). ## Where to buy nastergal konfyt online Because the fresh berry can't travel and the harvest window is so short, properly made wild nastergal konfyt is hard to find. We make ours the traditional way — whole hand-harvested berries, preserved in a deep purple syrup, on the same farm where they grow. If we have done our job here, you now know exactly what a nastergal is, why the ripe berry is the one to eat, and what makes nastergal konfyt such an unusual jar to own. The best way to understand it, of course, is to taste it. You can **[order direct from us](/order)** and have a jar of genuine Bloukop nastergal konfyt sent to you, or read more about the farm, the family and the de Jager legacy we carry forward on **[our story page](/story)**. From our Highveld farm to your table — that's the whole point. # Is Nastergal Poisonous? The Ripe-vs-Unripe Rule URL: https://www.zuidvaal.co.za/blog/is-nastergal-poisonous Is nastergal poisonous? The ripe purple-black berries are edible and eaten across Africa; only the green ones aren't. The safety facts — and why it isn't deadly nightshade. Is nastergal poisonous? The honest short answer is **no — not the ripe berries**. Fully ripe nastergal, the deep purple-black ones, are edible and have been eaten across Southern Africa for generations. It is only the *unripe green* berries and the leaves you need to leave alone. And despite the alarming "nightshade" label it sometimes carries, nastergal is **not** the same plant as "deadly nightshade." Below is exactly what's safe, what isn't, and why you can enjoy a jar of nastergal konfyt with complete confidence. ## The one rule that matters: ripe and dark, never green If you remember nothing else, remember this: **ripe and dark is the eating stage; green is not.** A nastergal berry starts out small, hard and green. As it ripens it swells, softens and deepens to a rich, almost-black purple. The fully ripe, dark berry is the part people have always eaten and preserved. The green, unripe berry is the one to avoid — and this single rule is the whole answer to the safety question. It is exactly why nastergal is always harvested *fully ripe*, and why we cook only the dark, soft, ready berries into our konfyt. Nothing green ever goes in the pot. ## Why unripe nastergal isn't safe — and what solanine actually is The caution around green nastergal is real, but it's specific and easy to understand. Like many plants in the nightshade family — including the green parts of everyday potatoes and tomatoes — the unripe green berries and the leaves of nastergal contain a natural compound called **solanine**. Solanine is bitter, and in enough quantity it can cause nausea or a stomach upset. It isn't something mysterious or unusually sinister; it's simply the plant's own defence while the fruit is still developing. As the berry ripens and turns from green through to deep purple-black, that solanine drops to very low levels and the fruit becomes both palatable and safe to eat. In other words, ripeness *is* the safety mechanism. The plant tells you when it's ready by changing colour. ## Nastergal is not "deadly nightshade" This is where most of the fear comes from, so let's deal with it head-on. People sometimes confuse nastergal with *Atropa belladonna*, the genuinely dangerous plant known as **deadly nightshade**. They are two completely different plants: - **Deadly nightshade (*Atropa belladonna*):** carries large, shiny, *single* berries and purple, bell-shaped flowers, contains powerful toxins, and has never been a food plant. - **Nastergal (*Solanum nigrum* / *Solanum retroflexum*):** carries small, matte berries in little *clusters* and white, *star-shaped* flowers, and is a long-eaten African food known in isiZulu as **umsobo** or **msobo** and in English as sunberry or black nightshade. They share the word "nightshade" the way a house cat shares a family with a lion — related in name, worlds apart in practice. We make our konfyt from nastergal, never belladonna. If you'd like the full picture of the berry itself, our guide to [what a nastergal is](/blog/what-is-a-nastergal) covers its names, taste and history in depth. ## How to know a nastergal berry is ready to eat A ripe nastergal berry is: - **Deep purple-black in colour** — not green, not part-green. - **Soft to the touch**, giving slightly when gently pressed. - **Easily picked**, coming away from the cluster without a fight. When it's ripe, the taste is a pleasant surprise: mildly sweet, gently earthy, with a soft tomato-like tang. A green, firm berry is simply not ready and should be left on the plant. One honest word of caution: correctly identifying a wild plant and judging true ripeness takes real knowledge, and look-alike plants do exist. We would never encourage casual roadside foraging. The reassuring part is that you don't have to — which is rather the point of the section below. ## Is nastergal safe for children and pets? For **children**, ripe nastergal and the konfyt made from it are an ordinary food, enjoyed on scones and cheese boards like any other preserve. The same common-sense rule applies as with any wild plant: keep little ones from picking and eating unknown green berries in the veld. For **pets and livestock**, be more careful with the *growing plant*. The leaves and unripe green berries can be toxic to dogs and to grazing animals, so keep animals away from wild nastergal plants. The finished konfyt is a human food — and, like any sugary jam, it isn't something to feed to pets regardless. ## Why our konfyt is safe to enjoy Here's the part that settles it. Every berry in a jar of our konfyt has been **identified, hand-selected at full ripeness, and cooked by people who have harvested this fruit for years** at [Bloukop Farm](/story) near Amersfoort, in the Mpumalanga Highveld. There is no green fruit, no guesswork, and no foraging risk passed on to you. So — is nastergal poisonous? Not the ripe berry, prepared the way it has always been prepared. The caution is genuine but narrow, and it belongs entirely to the green, unripe fruit and the leaves — never to the dark berries glistening in your konfyt. If you'd like to taste it for yourself, you can [order genuine Bloukop nastergal konfyt direct from us](/order), or browse the full range on [our products page](/products). From our Highveld farm to your table — safely, and the way it's always been done. # Nastergal Konfyt: What It Is & Where to Buy It URL: https://www.zuidvaal.co.za/blog/nastergal-konfyt Nastergal konfyt is a deep purple-black South African preserve made from wild berries. Learn what it tastes like and where to buy it direct from the farm. Nastergal konfyt is a deep purple-black preserve made from the wild nastergal berry, hand-harvested at full ripeness and cooked down in small batches on our Highveld farm. "Konfyt" is simply the Afrikaans word for jam, so nastergal konfyt and nastergal jam are one and the same thing — the label on our jar reads "Nastergal Jam", and we use the two words interchangeably around here. The berry itself is worth knowing a little about. Nastergal (*Solanum nigrum* / *Solanum retroflexum*, also called black nightshade or sunberry, and umsobo in isiZulu) is a wild, indigenous African berry that has been eaten across Southern Africa for generations. It is not something you can pick up fresh at the supermarket — it grows largely wild, and the season is short, roughly late summer through to March. If you want the full picture of the plant and its history, we've written a dedicated guide on [what a nastergal is](/blog/what-is-a-nastergal). ## Konfyt and jam: the same thing, two words There is no clever technical line to draw here. Konfyt is the Afrikaans word for jam, and that is the whole story. Some folks grew up calling it konfyt at their grandmother's kitchen table; others call it jam. Both are correct, and both describe exactly what sits in the jar: ripe fruit cooked slowly with sugar until it sets into a spoonable preserve. When you see "nastergal konfyt" and "nastergal jam" used side by side, they point to the identical product — ours included. ## What nastergal konfyt tastes and looks like The first thing people notice is the colour. This is a deep purple-black preserve — not clear, not red, but a dark, almost inky purple that comes straight from the fully ripe berries. Spread it on white bread and you'll see exactly what we mean. The taste is where it earns its place on the table. Nastergal konfyt is mildly sweet, gently earthy, and carries a soft tomato-like tang that rounds the whole thing out. It is distinctive without being cloying — there's a savoury edge underneath the sweetness that sets it apart from your everyday berry jam. If you've only ever known jam as straightforwardly sweet, this is something different: fruity, yes, but with depth and a grown-up, earthy character that makes it as at home next to cheese as it is on a scone. ## How we make it Every jar starts in the veld. The nastergal berries are hand-harvested at full ripeness — that deep purple-black stage is the whole point, because only the fully ripe berries carry the flavour and the safety we want. (For the honest, plain answer on ripe versus green berries, see our guide on [whether nastergal is poisonous](/blog/is-nastergal-poisonous).) Because the berry is wild and the season is short, we work in small batches at Bloukop Farm, near Amersfoort in the Mpumalanga Highveld. There's no shortcut and no year-round factory line — we cook what the season gives us, when it gives it, the way it has always been done. That's part of why nastergal konfyt is a bit special: it is genuinely seasonal, genuinely made by hand, by the two of us. You can read more about the farm and family behind it on [our story](/story) page. ## How to serve and use it Most people reach for jam and think of toast — and yes, nastergal konfyt is lovely on hot buttered toast or a fresh scone. But its earthy, tomato-tinged tang means it truly comes alive on the savoury side of the table, which is where we think it earns its keep: - **On a cheese board.** It's made for cheese. The deep, earthy fruit plays beautifully against a sharp, mature cheddar, and it looks striking against pale cheeses on the board. - **With mature cheddar and crackers.** A wedge of good cheddar, a plain cracker, and a spoon of nastergal konfyt is one of the simplest and best ways to taste what it does. - **As a glaze for meat.** Brush it over lamb, pork or ribs on the braai in the last few minutes of cooking — the sweetness and tang caramelise into a dark, glossy glaze. - **Alongside a cheese platter or charcuterie.** Cold meats, a soft cheese, some bread — it ties the plate together. - **The classic way**, on toast, scones or fresh farm bread with butter. The savoury pairings are, honestly, the part most people haven't tried yet — and once they do, the jar tends to migrate from the breakfast table to the supper table. ## Where to buy nastergal konfyt Here's the practical part. You won't find our nastergal konfyt on the shelves at Takealot, Woolworths, Checkers or the other big retailers — it isn't stocked there. It is made and sold direct from the farm, which is exactly why ordering online, straight from us, is the way to get it. To buy, you place an order through the [order form](/order) on our website. It comes in two jar sizes, 500g and 175g, so you can pick up a proper jar for the pantry or a smaller one to try. Both individuals and trade buyers are welcome: if you run a shop, deli or farm stall, enter your Zuidvaal account number on the form to unlock wholesale pricing (wholesale needs a minimum order of 24 jars). If you'd like a step-by-step on ordering direct, we've laid it all out in [how to buy nastergal jam online](/blog/buy-nastergal-jam-online). And if you're after more than just the nastergal, our full [products](/products) page carries the rest of the range — a dozen-plus other jams, jellies, marmalade, raw honey and gift packs made the same small-batch way. Nastergal konfyt is one of those things you have to taste to understand — the dark colour, the earthy sweetness, the soft tomato-like tang against a sharp cheddar. We make it by hand, in small batches, from wild berries picked at the peak of a short season, and we'd love for you to try it. When you're ready, [place your order](/order) direct from the farm, and we'll send it from our Highveld table to yours. # Buy Nastergal Jam Online in South Africa URL: https://www.zuidvaal.co.za/blog/buy-nastergal-jam-online Buy nastergal jam online in South Africa, direct from Bloukop Farm. Deep purple-black nastergal konfyt in 500g and 175g jars, made by the family who grow it. Yes — you can buy nastergal jam online in South Africa, direct from us at Bloukop Farm. We make our nastergal konfyt here near Amersfoort in the Mpumalanga Highveld, and the simplest way to get a jar is to [place an order](/order) on our website. No middleman, no supermarket shelf. It comes straight from the family who harvest the berries and cook the preserve. We say "direct from the farm" and we mean it literally. Zuidvaal is a husband-and-wife operation run by Loutjie and Zelda-Mari du Toit, and the jar of konfyt that arrives with you is the same one that left our kitchen. That's not a marketing line — it's just how a small farm sells a wild, seasonal preserve. ## Why you won't find it in the big shops If you've searched Takealot, Woolworths or Checkers for nastergal jam and come up empty, that's not an accident. You won't find our konfyt there, and here's the honest reason why. Nastergal is a [wild, indigenous African berry](/blog/what-is-a-nastergal), also known as black nightshade or sunberry. It grows on its own terms. We can't order a pallet of it from a supplier; it has to be hand-harvested at full ripeness, when the berries turn a deep purple-black, and the season for that is short — roughly late summer, around February and March. Miss the window and you wait a year. That makes it fundamentally a small-batch product. Big retail chains need volume, consistency and year-round supply, and a wild berry with a few weeks of harvest simply can't give them that. So rather than water it down or stretch it to fit a supermarket buying cycle, we keep it real and sell it ourselves. The scarcity is the point. Buying direct isn't a workaround — it's genuinely how you get the real thing. ## What you actually get When you order, you get [proper nastergal konfyt](/blog/nastergal-konfyt): a deep purple-black preserve, not a clear jelly and not a red berry jam. The colour comes straight from the ripe berries themselves. The taste is what keeps people coming back. It's mildly sweet, gently earthy, with a soft tomato-like tang running underneath. Distinctive without being cloying — the kind of thing you spread once and then find yourself explaining to everyone at the table. It's lovely on warm toast, alongside a good cheese, or with cold meat. We offer it in two sizes: - **500g jars** — the everyday size, good for a household or as a gift for someone who appreciates something they can't buy in a shop. - **175g jars** — a smaller jar, ideal if you're trying nastergal konfyt for the first time and want to taste it before you commit to more. Same berry, same recipe, same farm in both. ## How ordering works Ordering is deliberately simple. Head to our [order form](/order), choose your sizes and quantities, and send it through. We handle the rest from the farm. We've kept the process plain on purpose — you place the order, we confirm it with you directly. **If you're buying for yourself**, that's it. Retail buyers are always welcome, whether you want a single 175g jar to try or a few 500g jars for the pantry and for gifts. **If you're a shop, deli or farm stall**, you can buy nastergal konfyt at wholesale pricing. Enter your Zuidvaal account number on the order form and wholesale rates unlock automatically. Wholesale pricing applies to a minimum order of 24 jars. Don't have an account number yet? Place an order or reach out through the site and we'll get you set up — we love seeing our konfyt on good farm-stall and deli shelves around the country. We won't quote you a rand figure here, because prices and order details are best confirmed on the live form where everything is current. What we can promise is that what you order is exactly what we make. ## Is it safe to eat? Yes Because "nightshade" sits in the berry's family tree, some first-time buyers pause — and that's fair, so let's be straight about it. The ripe, dark nastergal berries we use are edible and have been eaten across Southern Africa for generations. Nastergal is not "deadly nightshade" (that's a completely different plant, *Atropa belladonna*). Only the unripe green berries and the leaves are left alone — and those never go anywhere near our konfyt, because we harvest only at full, deep-purple ripeness. If you'd like the full picture before you order, we've written it all out in our guide to [whether nastergal is poisonous](/blog/is-nastergal-poisonous). ## More than just nastergal Nastergal konfyt is our signature, but it isn't all we make. If you're already placing an order, it's worth browsing the wider [range on our products page](/products) — a dozen-plus other jams, jellies, marmalade, raw honey and gift packs, all made the same way, here on the farm. A jar of nastergal alongside a couple of the others makes a gift that's genuinely hard to find anywhere else. ## Order direct from the farm So — where do you buy nastergal jam online? Right here, from the people who grow, harvest and cook it. It's wild, it's seasonal, and it doesn't sit on a supermarket shelf, which is exactly why ordering direct from Bloukop Farm is the way to taste it. When you're ready, [place your order](/order) and we'll send genuine Zuidvaal nastergal konfyt from our Highveld farm to your table — the way it's always been done.