A fruit orchard adventure, one bite at a time

Passion fruit, custard apple and açaí some of the more exotic fruits to be found in European supermarkets. Some of them have been around for a long time, at least in Spain. I already had custard apple for dessert in the canteen, but I had never seen them grow, much less associated them with the American continent. Josué and his family took us on a tour of their fruit trees and showed us some of their lesser known wonders. Here a brief introduction:

Cherimoya (Annona cherimola)

Also known as custard apple is native to Peru and has been cultivated in the Andes since 200 AD. The word comes from the Quechua language and refers to the fact that the plant germinates at high altitudes, where it’s cold enough but seldomly freezes: chiri means cold and muya means seed.

Arasá (Eugenia stipitata)

There are different types of guava trees. The arasá comes from the Amazon and is larger than the common guava. The flesh is similar to that of the pear, but has hard but edible seeds. The whole shrub is used medicinally: the root for diarrhoea and the leaves for infusions.

Açaí (Euterpe)

There are two types of this fruit, so popular in breakfast bowls. The açaí is a palm tree that grows in the flooded areas of the Amazon. There is the solitary açaí (Euterpe precatoria), which produces small fruits, and the tropa açaí (Euterpe oleracea), which has several trunks. The fruits are consumed as a drink, candy or ice cream, and the mesocarp is used to make palm heart.

Copoazú (Theobroma grandiflorum)

We are all familiar with cocoa and copoazú is its relative from the eastern Amazon. Unlike cocoa, it has much more white pulp and fewer seeds. It has a slightly acidic taste. The pulp is used to make jellies, jams and marmalades, and the seeds are used to make skin creams. Chocolate is also made from copoazú, the cupulate, although we are still not entirely convinced by its taste.

Achachairú (Garcinia humilis)

This fruit grows in the Bolivian Amazon. It is sweet and bitter. Only the flesh is eaten, by breaking the skin and sucking the flesh around the seed, which is then spat out.

Unfortunately, there was no fruit when we were there, just like the next fruit. So no pictures to show, use your imagination!

Stachelannone (Annona muricata)

It’s also called guanabana. The soursop looks like a giant cherimoya with thorns that can weigh up to 5 kg. They belong to the same family but have a different taste. The soursop has a sweet-sour flavour similar to pineapple.

Ambaibo (Cecropia insignis)

Also known as guarumo, it is known for its symbiosis with Aztec ants. The hollow trunks of the tree are inhabited by these ants, which protect the tree. The fruit of the ambaibo has five edible pods, but is little known, probably because the taste is not overwhelmingly good.