Jabuticaba is a fruit native to Brazil. It‘s the size and color of a plum, with a white pulp and several seeds. It only stays fresh for a few days, which is why it‘s not usually brought to the US. But if you wanted to go get your own jabuticaba, I‘ll tell you how you‘d do it: you‘d go to the tree and pick it straight from the trunk itself!
The fruit grows directly on the bark of the tree‘s trunk and branches. It looks like clumps of fruit glued onto a tree. It might seem unusual to us, but the fruit is common in Brazil. It‘s often sold fresh at markets. It‘s also known for its health benefits and sometimes gets called a "super fruit."
Sweet, dark-skinned super fruits have plenty of anioxidants and nutrients, especially in their peels. So, like pomegranates or blueberries, the jabuticaba could also be good at preventing heart disease, or even cancer.
It can definitely be a healthy part of one‘s diet. In Brazil, it‘s certainly a popular fruit: though its shelf life is short, the jabuticaba is often made into jam, jelly, ice cream, wine and liqueur.
Sources and Further Reading
- Inada, Kim Ohanna Pimenta, et al. (2015). Screening of the chemical composition and occurring antioxidants in jabuticaba (Myriciaria jaboticaba) and jussara (Euterpe edulis) fruits and their fractions. Journal of Functional Foods. 17, 422-433.
- Neves, Nathalia de Andrade, et al. (2018). Flavonols and ellagic acid derivative in peels of different species of jabuticaba (Plinia spp.) identified by HPLC-DAD-ESI/MSn. Food Chemistry. 252 (30), 61-71.