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Exotic Fruit, Rollinia
For years my best friend Christie raved about this superfruit, and I waited a long time to try it on Maui. Every time I got close to one it either got away by being sold out, or was not ripe enough. Rollinia Deliciosa is an amazing fruit that tastes like lemon meringue pie. It’s in the custard-apple family, and is native to South America. I had it last year in Hawai’i, and i’ve been able to find it at farmers markets on the Big Island ever since. Rollinia loves the sun and grows in warm, tropical climates. The fruit can be eaten raw, and used to make milkshakes, wine, or smoothies.
Other Common Names for Rollinia Deliciosa
Rollinia is known by many different names around the globe including lemon meringue pie fruit, wild sugar-apple, Biribá (Brazilian), and Aratiku.
Benefits of Rollinia Deliciosa
Traditionally in Brazil it was used as a remedy to treat illness within the body, and fevers. It was also fermented and used for making wine, and cooling someone down. The fruit is one of, if not THE most protein packed fruits in the world. That alone is a reason to try it, although it has a variety of vitamins that help the body function well.
Vitamins
The human body needs multiple servings of fruit per day, to function optimally. Rollinia Deliciosa is a perfect fruit to get those nutrients in. It has a ton of vitamin C.
Vitamin C, also called ascorbic acid, helps repair and grow healthy tissue within the body. As you may have heard from your grandma or mom, vitamin C helps the body fight off sickness.
The phosphorous in this beautiful and delicious fruit helps fight off kidney disease. The magnesium and calcium help the body to metabolize all other nutrients.
Rollinia Deliciosa also has potassium, which helps regulate heart health and synthesizing proteins.
Taste of Rollinia Deliciosa
You harvest the fruit when it starts to turn soft and yellow. The inside is soft and mushy, like a custard. It is sweet with no sour taste, and can be used as or an addition to dessert. The ripened fruit grows to weigh about 1-3 lbs.
The fruit is not overly sweet, it’s just perfect. Some are sweeter than others. It’s creamy texture tastes mildly like soursop, or light banana. You don’t eat the seeds. As always, plant them for more beautiful trees!
About the Tropical Tree
The wood of the Biribá tree is durable can be used to build things. It grows in hot climates and absolutely loves the sun. If you have warm weather with lots of sun, you can grow one at your home. You can order one here for $19.
As always, I hope this was helpful to understand more about the amazing exotic fruit, Rollinia Deliciosa. Let me know what you think of this fruit, or if you have any questions in the comments!
All my love,