Best Plants for Southwest Florida | Peanut butter fruit

Best plants to cultivate in Southwest Florida | Peanut butter fruit

It’s time you know the truth...

The truth is we have been limited the foods we eat based on how well they can be stored and sold (maybe you already knew that).

Take the little pretty fruit called peanut butter fruit, for example. I was introduced to the fruit while taking a tour of ECHO Farms in North Fort Myers and just absolutely had to get one for our garden.

You probably have never heard of the fruit which is also known as the fake guarana or by its scientific name, Bunchosia glandulifera.

The peanut butter fruit is a tasty and delicious treat, best way to describe is that it taste like a mixture of peanut butter with a bit of grape jelly and it will give you a lot of energy

Now as for the nutritious properties, it is astonishing how such little fruit contains so many nutrients. Here's a list of them:

• anthocyanins,

• flavonoids,

• lycopene,

• β-carotene,

• vitamin C

• caffeine.

The plant is also high in antioxidants due to its high level of bioactive compounds. The peanut butter fruit has recently been used in Brazil to treat prostate cancer because of a high concentration of lycopene which helps combat the disease. The fruit is also used as a stimulant because of its caffeine properties.

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Unfortunately, not many studies have been conducted on this plant and its health benefits, mainly because its shelf life is so short, making the peanut butter fruit unsuitable for sale.

However, if you live in a tropical weather region like Florida, Hawaii, Australia and have a small space where you can plant this wonderful plant then you don’t have to worry about finding it at the store.

The peanut butter fruit can easily be grown from seeds and we have even experimented with cuttings and although it takes a while before it roots, this is another way to cultivate the plant if you don't have any seeds yet.

Taking care of it requires minimum effort, the plant loves the sun and can really take the heat. Probably one of the easiest and most fun plants to grow, not to mention, delicious and healthy too.

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References

https://agris.fao.org/agris-search/search.do?recordID=US201600114452

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10942912.2015.1033547

https://rosalcomunicadotcom.wordpress.com/2017/06/30/pesquisadora-descobre-as-propriedades-e-os-beneficios-da-caferana-para-a-saude/