Arazá has a bit of a full circle story here, since it was the very first tree I planted when this whole project started, and I came back to it again in the middle of the year.
The Basics
Arazá, also called araçá-boi, Eugenia stipitata, comes from the Western Amazon rainforest and is related to grumichama, also known as Brazil cherry.
Origin and Habitat
Western Amazon lowland rainforest, warm and consistently wet.
What It Looks Like
A shrubby tree that, at least on the original one we planted, dropped all its leaves at one point and looked like it had died before flushing a bunch of new growth and recovering completely.
Uses and Flavor
The fruit is intensely sour, with a pH as low as 2.4, but now that both our trees are fruiting I can say firsthand it’s not just a rough sour hit, there’s a genuine floral sweetness underneath that surprised me the first time I tried it. Makes sense why it’s prized for juices, jams, and ice cream once sweetened.
Growing It Here
The very first tree I ever planted for this project was an arazá, and on day 183, right at the start of the second half of the year, I planted another one, this time a specifically selected Iquitos variety, Eugenia stipitata spp. sororia, again from Joe. Both trees started producing fruit in late 2025, which felt like an appropriate payoff for a species that bookended the whole project for me. In the same Myrtaceae family, we’re also growing Surinam cherry, jaboticaba, and guayabilla, all cousins with their own sour-to-sweet balancing acts.
Pests and Diseases to Watch For
The original tree went through a scary leaf drop early on but bounced back on its own without any intervention from us.
Kenta’s Take
Starting and restarting the year with the same species, on opposite sides of the calendar, felt like a nice bit of symmetry in a project that otherwise doesn’t have a lot of structure to it. Now that both are producing, that symmetry finally comes with fruit attached.