Maputo (Mozambique), July 17 (DPA) Gastronomic tastes in the southeast African country of Mozambique, home of succulent jumbo prawns and peri peri spice, are coming back down to earth. Literally.

Stroll around any food market in the capital Maputo and you will come across small paper packets or coffee cups of refined earth - white, red or yellow - starting at around 1 metical (4 US dollar cents) for 50 grammes.

'Area delicioso (delicious earth!),' vendors call out to passersby.

A long-running tradition among pregnant women in Mozambique, as in some other parts of the world, eating earth has gone mainstream in Maputo, with women saying the soil fortifies them, particularly during menstruation.

Geophagia, as the deliberate consumption of earth, soil or clay, is known 'is not uncommon in southern parts of the United States as well as urban Africa', a 2002 article on the subject in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine noted.

While famine was sometimes a factor, the practise was most commonly observed during pregnancy or as a feature of iron-deficiency anaemia, the report's South African author found. Noting the spread of the habit in Maputo, a leading Mozambican sociologist, Carlos Serra, wrote in his blog recently: 'The habit might be linked to a lack of iron, which would indicate that it is a health issue.'

Maria Cumbe, a 50-year-old vendor of fruit and vegetables at Xipamanine market on the outskirts of Maputo, recently began selling earth on her stall.

It is far more lucrative and easier to trade (than fruit and veg),' says Maria. 'It does not rot: once you have it you'll sell until the last grain.'

Some days, she makes around 300 (around $10), she says. Even in a bad month, purveyors of earth take in well in excess of the minimum wage of around $50.

'Business is faring well these days. Large number of women like eating earth,' says Cumbe.

The recipe is simple: take some unrefined earth, rinse it with water and put it to dry in the sun for a day. Then add flavouring - salt or powdered chicken or beef stock are popular - and grind it until it gains a powdery texture.