Jabuticaba or jaboticaba, it is called a “tree grape” because it looks like a grape and grows on the branches. It is a high-end fruit native to South America. It is not common in the Kenyan market, and the price is relatively expensive. Many people have heard the name but dont know it what it was.

The jabuticaba fruit tree has a habit of producing the fruit directly on the trunk makes this a striking tree. The black fruit has an edible thin, but tough skin. The texture is similar to a grape with a sweet and aromatic flavour. Cropping can begin at 5 years. A versatile small tree with decorative coppery foliage that makes for an ornamental specimen tree or superb hedge.

Jabuticaba fruit rarely suffers from insect pests, so there is no need to use pesticides, and farmyard manure is used for fertilization, which is a typical pollution-free agricultural product. A mature Jabuticaba fruit tree can bear fruit four times a year. The older the tree, the more fruit it bears, and the yield is very impressive.

Jabuticaba berries are tart, sweet with alot of juice, acidic berries that have been compared to grapes. Theyโ€™re full of antioxidants and brimming with vitamins C and E, iron, calcium, and phosphorus, among other beneficial vitamins and minerals.

Given their nutritional properties, the berries are often considered healthier than more popular โ€œsuperfoods”.

1. Why you have not heard of jabuticaba fruits

Because theyโ€™re unequivocally Brazilian. These thick-skinned, dark purple berries have an extremely short shelf life and begin to ferment three to four days after being picked, making them difficult to export anywhere else.

2. Where do jabuticaba tree grow?

Getting hold of these berries is no easy feat. The way they grow is particularly striking; youโ€™ll find them smothering the tree trunk rather than appearing among the leaves. For jabuticaba seedlings, you can buy from Farmers Trend by contacting +254790509684 or +254724559286

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3. Why jabuticaba so rare

The jabuticaba tree only thrives in a subtropical climate, and in rich, well-drained soil. Once planted, the tree can take anywhere between five and seven years to bear fruit. This, combined with their short shelf life, makes the berries veritable gold dust outside Brazil.

4. What jabuticaba taste like

Their taste and appearance is most often compared to the muscadine grape โ€” and theyโ€™re even nicknamed โ€˜the Brazilian grapeโ€™. Jabuticaba berries are both sweet and acidic, with tough, tart skin and a pale, fleshy centre thatโ€™s incrediblyย sweet.

5. Where jabuticaba fruits are consumed most

Brazilians, mainly, who prefer to eat them raw and freshly picked. To avoid them going to waste, theyโ€™re often turned into jam, jelly, juice and liquor, or added to Brazilโ€™s beloved cocktail, caipirinha. The berryโ€™s name derives from Tupi โ€” an ancient Brazilian language โ€” and means turtle (jabuti) and land (caba), in a nod to the turtles that once surrounded the area and grazed on the fruit.

6. What makes jabuticaba so healthy?

When it comes to the amount of antioxidants per 100g of fruit, jabuticaba berries out-trump blueberries, grapes and even acai. Theyย also containย vitaminsย C and E, calcium, iron, potassium and phosphorus, as well as anti-inflammatory properties.

Jaboticaba is used for the treatment for hemoptysis, asthma, diarrhea and dysentery also as a gargle for chronic inflammation of the tonsils are by the caustic decoction of the sun-dry skins is agreed in Brazil. Such use of fruit also may lead to excessive consumption of tannin. The fruit of Jaboticaba contain compounds similar to known to have positive biological effects in cranberries, grapes and other related species, including anti-ageing, anti-inflammatory and the antioxidant qualities.

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