I first learned about jaboticaba from The Fruit Hunter. It’s probably one of the most interesting, if not unusual fruit I’ve ever knew is in existence.
Brazil would be a fruit lovers dream destination as it’s known for it’s many variety of unique fruits, especially the Acai berries. Jaboticaba is probably loaded with vitamins just by looking at the dark purplish color of the skin.
This reminds me of modern art where someone decides to place each giant grape along the tree trunks. Image source: Wikipedia/Jabuticaba
According to the California Rare Fruit Growers, this fruit is from the same species as camu-camu. It can also be grown successfully from Florida to Hawaii. Some are also grown in southern California and also as far north as the San Jose and San Francisco Bay areas. The plant grows well as a container specimen.
The fruit is described as tasting very similar to Muscadine grapes. But the skin contains tannin so it makes your lips pucker. The real treat is probably the sweet flesh. It’s described as being delicious eaten out-of-hand. And it can be made into jellies, jams and wine.
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Since I heard that new plant species were found in the jungles of Asia, I have hope that it will lead to discovering many new herbal medicines. The most recent promising herb I’ve read about is Camu-Camu. These come from the jungles of South America.
These fruits look pretty good to me! They are suppose to be very sour, so the locals don’t like them too much. It is found growing near the rivers in South American, mostly near the Amazon River. Image source from BidNetwork.
Dr. James Duke retired chief botanist for the U.S.Dept.of Agriculture, author the Green Pharmacy did a comparative study of hundreds of botanical. He ranked them in order of effectiveness for various health conditions, Camu-Camu (Myrciaria dubia) was ranked among hundreds of herbs as follows:
* anti-viral -No.6
* anti-oxidant - No.4
* asthma - No.1
* atherosclerosis - No.1
* cataracts - No.1
* colds - No.1
* depression - No.2
Once the fruit is split open, it looks very much like grapes and passionfruit. Photo from HerbDealer. “The camu-camu, which looks like an eight-gram plum and is known to the local Amazonian population as “cazar” or “araz-de-agua,” is also rich in collagen - a substance used for slowing down the aging process - and in flavonoids, which help prevent cancer, said Conrado Todesco, president of an environmental organization in Sao Paulo.” - Mario Osava - (IPS) RIO DE JANEIRO
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