Cousin of cacao, and one of the few South American fruits that actually rang a bell when I asked some Brazilian friends about the strange stuff we’re growing — most of what we plant they’d never heard of, but cupuassu and jaboticaba they knew right away.
The Basics
Cupuassu, Theobroma grandiflorum, is a close cousin of cacao, in the same genus, and the same family, Malvaceae. The name grandiflorum means “big flower,” and the flowers really are an oversized version of a cacao blossom.
Origin and Habitat
Native to the Amazon basin of Central and South America, growing in the understory of humid tropical rainforest alongside cacao itself.
What It Looks Like
A mid-sized understory tree with large flowers and a big, football-shaped fruit that, inside, looks a lot like cacao — full of pulp and seeds packed in a similar arrangement.
Uses and Flavor
The pulp is a staple in Brazil for juices, ice creams, and mousses. I haven’t had a chance to try it myself yet, but I’ve heard it tastes like a lemony banana. The seeds can be processed into a chocolate-like product sometimes called cupulate, though it’s still uncommon commercially, partly because the beans carry a much higher fat content than cacao beans do.
Growing It Here
Got this one from Yuri, though the mother tree it came from was planted years earlier by Kyle Studer. It’s pronounced coo-Pwah-sue, with the emphasis on the Pwah, which took me a while to get right. I’ve got two old trees at this point that keep flowering reliably but haven’t held onto a single fruit yet, maybe a pollination issue of some sort, plus a couple more younger ones growing elsewhere on the property. In good genus company either way, alongside envira caju and rollinia, two more Amazonian fruits that took some convincing for our Brazilian friends to recognize.
Pests and Diseases to Watch For
No pest or disease issues to report yet — these trees are still working toward their first real fruit set, so there’s not much data from ours so far.
Kenta’s Take
I like that this is the one South American oddity my Brazilian friends actually recognized on sight. Two trees flowering with nothing to show for it yet is a little frustrating, but between that and the younger ones coming up behind them, I’m still hopeful I’ll get to test that lemony banana rumor myself before too long.