Today I planted a camu camu tree that I sprouted from seed almost 2 years ago. Camu camu is a fruit from South America and is related to jaboticaba. It’s usually found growing near river banks and is extremely flood tolerant. The fresh fruit that look like grapes contains extraordinary amounts of vitamin C which is 2 to 3% of it’s fresh fruit weight. Camu camu is currently sold in powdered form and is marketed as a ‘super food’. When I tried the fruit it was extremely tart and sour like super lemon candy. Julia and I think that it would make a great lemonade-like drink or for making salad dressings. Like jaboticaba and all of their relatives this one grows really slow. So we can probably expect some fruits many more years from now.
Originally posted on 2021-08-22, part of the daily planting journal behind Ha’a Chocolate’s food forest on Hawai’i Island.