Egusi are the flat, protein- and oil-rich seeds of certain cucurbit melons — chiefly a bitter, inedible-fleshed form of watermelon (Citrullus lanatus) and the white-seed melon (Cucumeropsis mannii) — grown across West and Central Africa for the seed alone. Shelled to a creamy ivory kernel and ground into a coarse meal, they are the thickening, nutty, protein-dense base of egusi soup, one of the staple dishes of Nigerian and wider West African cooking.