The Bizarre Jaboticaba Tree!

Yesterday I was looking at some photos of trees on Daley's Fruit Tree Nursery as I was looking up some details about the Cherimoya Tree that we have growing and which I was going to feature in a future blog post. The Garden CEO happened to walk past and looked at the tree to the right on the nursery homepage and said that it looked like a Jaboticaba Tree and that we had one growing ' down the back'. Really? That is so nice to know. As it turns out it has been growing there since before we were married as he planted it when he first bought the house when he was single so the tree must be over 36 years old! Obviously, I am very observant. LOL!

 

So....if you have never seen a Jaboticaba Tree before then let me introduce you to the most unusual tree I have ever seen.

 Have a look at that unassuming tree in the middle of the photo. There is nothing special about it is there? Of course there isn't!

 

Now...let's get a little closer. Hmmm, just some nice green leafy foliage. Nothing special about that! Well, that is where 'nothing special' finishes!!!! Let's lift up those hanging branches....

...and would you believe it, there are what look like black grapes growing on the tree trunk!

There are hundreds of them and there probably would be more if the tree was watered as apparently it does like more water than it would have been given this year. Apparently the birds like the fruit so it will be a bit of a race to pick the fruit before the birds get to it.

 

The Jaboticaba fruit is like a large grape with a reasonably tough skin and an exotic tasting jelly-like substance inside so you just pick the fruit off the tree, wash it, put the fruit in your mouth and bite it, spit out the seed and skin and savour the taste of a very unusual fruit. 

It is said to have anti-aging, anti-inflammatory and antioxidant qualities.

From flowers to ready-to-eat fruit is only 30 days and the tree can fruit up to three times a year although I believe ours only fruits twice a year. Another smaller tree has sprung up beside the old one so I am looking forward to seeing what the flowers look like as I have seen some photos of them and they look fantastic.

Well known gardener, Annette McFarlane makes Jaboticaba jam out of the fruit.  Mariana from Through My Kitchen Window makes Jaboticaba jelly and I believe others make wine out of the fruit.

As I had never heard of or seen the fruit before it is another learning curve for me so I will do a bit more research and see what other recipes can be made with Jaboticaba. 

If you would like to see a video about Jaboticaba check out this one from Daley's Fruit Nursery and let me know what you think of the fruit. It looks very alien growing up the tree trunk, doesn't it? 

Don't forget about my 1st blog anniversary giveaway! If you would like to win an Australian wildlife book you just have to leave a comment after this post and you will be in the draw. Please note that if you don't live in Australia there will be a special draw for you so just mention that you are from overseas so that you go in the correct draw. The giveaway closes on June 15th!