Common name: Camu Camu

Camu Camu is a fruiting shrub or small tree native to South America that grows on the vast floodplains of the Amazon Basin. 

It typically reaches 3 to 5 m (10 to 16 ft), occasionally up to 12 m (39 ft), and develops one or more upright stems with a low-branching habit, from which long lateral branches grow to form a rounded crown. On floodplains, where floodwaters are sometimes high enough to nearly cover the plant, the lateral branches shear off, leaving a V-shaped crown. The bark is smooth, bronze-brown and flaking, exposing pale brown underbark.

Leaves are oval with a tapered, pointed tip, up to 10 cm (4 in) long; dark, glossy green on top, pale dull green underneath, and arranged in pairs along the branches. They fall off only in areas with a pronounced dry season; elsewhere, they stay on the plant year-round. 

The flowers are small, funnel-shaped, with prominent white filaments at their centre, sweetly fragrant and borne in clusters of a few arising at the leaf base. They bloom at the transition from the dry to the rainy season, in response to rising humidity, which in constantly humid climates results in on-and-off blooms throughout the year.

Fertilised flowers are followed by roundish fruit, 1 to 3 cm (0.4 to 1.2 in) in diameter that are yellow-green when young, becoming reddish to purple-black when ripe. The thin skin encloses soft, juicy pulp with up to four small seeds.

Edible uses

Non-alcoholic drink - The pulp has a sour, citrusy flavour, and people usually macerate the whole fruit in water and sugar to make a refreshing drink. In Peru, it is carbonated and sold as a popular pink-coloured soft (fizzy) drink.

Fruit spread - Camu Camu pulp also makes an excellent jam or jelly...

Natural flavouring - ...and, in its native range, is used to flavour ice-cream and other desserts.

Health uses

Vitamin C - The fruit has one of the highest vitamin C concentrations of any fruit, reportedly 2 to 3% of its fresh weight, about thirty times that of citrus. However, vitamin C content declines as the fruit ripens, creating a trade-off between vitamin C and flavour.

In addition to its high vitamin C content, the fruit pulp is rich in protective flavonoids and contains good amounts of the amino acids leucine, serine, and valine, all of which play a vital role in regulating healthy blood sugar levels in the body.

Today, most harvested fruit pulp is dried and made into a powder used to manufacture vitamin C tablets. The pulp is also marketed as a superfood and dietary supplement and sold in health food stores.

Climate

Grows naturally in humid tropical lowland climates, generally in areas with annual lows of 20 to 25°C, annual highs of 28 to 35°C, annual rainfall of 1500 to 7500 mm and a dry season of 4 months or less.

Growing

New plants are usually grown from seed, which loses viability quickly and should be sown within three days of extraction from the fruit. The seedling plants are tended in a nursery for about a year or until they are about 60 cm tall, after which they are planted out. 

Performs best in free- or slow-draining clay, loam, and sand soils that are acidic to neutral, generally with a pH of 4.0 to 7.0, and in sites with full to partial sun exposure. Camu Camu tolerates seasonal flooding and poorly drained soils but tolerates limestone soils poorly. It also adapts well to areas outside floodplains.

Trees in plantations yield on average 12 kgs (26 lbs) of fruit per year and start to flower and fruit when about three years old.

Problem features

No records or reports identify it as a weed or invasive species, despite its long-ago introduction to Florida, Puerto Rico, and other subtropical and tropical regions.

Books

• Alexiades, M.N. & Shanley, P. 2005, Forest products, livelihoods and conservation: case studies of non-timber forest product systems, volume 3 (Latin America), Bogor, Indonesia

• Barwick, M., et al. 2004, Tropical & subtropical trees : a worldwide encyclopaedic guide, Thames and Hudson, London

• Castner, J. L. & Duke, J. A., & Timme, S. L. 1998, A field guide to medicinal and useful plants of the Upper Amazon, Feline Press, Gainesville, Florida

• Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) 1986, Food and Fruit-bearing Forest Species, 3 : Examples from Latin America, FAO Forestry Paper no 44/3, Rome

• Lopez, C., et al. 2004, Riches of the forest: fruits, remedies and handicrafts in Latin America, Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), Bogor, Indonesia

• Lorenzi, H. 2006, Brazilian fruits & cultivated exotics (for consuming in natura), Instituto Plantarum de Estudos da Flora, Nova Odessa, San Paulo

• Morton, J. F. & Dowling, C. F. 1987, Fruits of warm climates, Creative Resources Systems, Winterville, North Carolina

• Page, P. E. 1984, Tropical tree fruits for Australia, Queensland Department of Primary Industries (QLD DPI), Brisbane

• Wickens, G. E & Day, Peter R., 1928- & Haq, N & International Symposium on New Crops for Food and Industry 1989, New crops for food and industry, Chapman and Hall, London ; New York

Articles, Journals, Reports and Working Papers

• Clay, J.W. and Clement, C.R. 1993, Selected species and strategies to enhance income generation from Amazonian forests, FAO Working Paper, Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO), Rome