Cerrado Fruits Attractive to Homo Sapiens

"From a babassu, everything can be used". From the mesocarp, the babassu pulp has several nutritional properties - rich in starch, carbohydrates, fiber, and mineral salts - several dishes are prepared.

Its fruits are sweet, reminding a little of the taste of prunes. This species occurs close to water courses and is one of 51 species of murici that occur in the Cerrado biome.

The dry-type fruits, such as those that open spontaneously when ripe and without juicy pulp, mainly bear fruit in the dry season (autumn-winter), between the months of April and September. Plants like chichá and jatobá form part of this group.

Its fruit is up to 20 centimeters open when ripe, showing the red interior and blue seeds that if roasted, are better, bigger, and more nutritious than peanuts.

The fleshy fruits concentrate their fruiting period in the rainy season (spring-summer), between the months of October and March. This group includes species such as cashew apple, araticum, cagaita, mama-cadela, pequi and mangaba.

One of the darlings of the Cerrado, the little cashew or cajuí is smaller than the commercial cashew and has a more intense flavor. It ripens early in the spring, between September and October, and also serves as food for animals such as the maned wolf and the wild dog.

The fruit is very tasty, delicious in sweets, juices, and ice cream. Cattle also love its fruit, being indicated for crossbreeding in pastures.

Ripe or spent fruits, if eaten in quantity, strongly loosen the bowels, hence the name. Its white flower is of rare beauty and is suitable for gardens and urban woodland.

With a marked and sweetish flavor, when eaten in the wild the fruit has a consistency similar to gum, allowing fruit lovers to chew the pulp. In addition, many people make sweets with the fruit, from candy to ice cream. 

An important nutritional supplement rich in minerals and vitamins, especially vitamins A, C and B2 and rich in carotenoids, pequi is much appreciated in the regions where it occurs, and is widely used in regional cuisine, in dishes such as rice, chicken and beans cooked with pequi.

There’s nothing like a cold mangaba juice!

Yum, your fruit tastes sweet. Some mammals disperse its seeds; wasps, flies, and mosquitoes pollinate its flowers. Used for food and medicine, it is beautiful in gardens.

This species of Bacupari is a vine that grows in the Cerrado forest formations. It has a tasty and sweet pulp, with a gelatinous consistency, maturing at the end of the rainy season.

Also known as camburí, licurizinho or licuri-rasteiro-do-campo, this small palm tree occurs in savanna and rural formations of the Cerrado. Its coconuts are tasty and have a strong flavor, being also appreciated by the maned wolf.

The flavor is strong, with potential for jellies, preserves, liquors, syrups, etc. It is black, like other fruits such as chocolate quince and cerrado quince (Alibertia edulis).

Have you ever eaten Mutamba? It's sweet.

It blooms almost all year round, but more intensely from January to April. The fruit ripens mainly from August to December.

Known as ox fruit, it is also eaten by cattle and wild animals. They have a delicate and mild flavor and are only consumed wild because they contain little pulp.

The pulp of the fruits of this palm tree is mucilaginous and very sweet, hence its name. It also has a very tasty nut, consumed mainly by children in rural areas.

Also known as guapeva, abiu or grão-de-galo, the fruits are extremely tasty and practically unknown by most people. They mature between December and February and have a white gelatinous pulp.

Plant traditionally used in folk medicine for joint pain. The fruits are sweet and similar to blueberry, being very attractive to birds.

A rare species in nature, it has to be cultivated to be conserved. The taste of this fruit is like a mixture of peanut and pear. It is great to eat straight from the tree. The pips have nuts which are also edible and very nutritious.

Have you ever had gabiroba juice or ice cream? Delicious!!!

Shrubby species, which occurs in savanna and grassland formations of the Cerrado, with tasty fruits and intense white flowering, with high ornamental potential.

Also known as puçá, these fruits have a gelatinous and sweetened pulp, being highly appreciated by local communities in the regions where they occur.

Relative to the pine cone and araticum, its fruits have a sweet and strong flavor, also highly appreciated by the wild fauna of the Cerrado.

From the same genus and family as black pepper (Piper nigrum), it is a slightly spicy spice, with potential for use in drinks and roasts, giving pleasant flavors to the dishes.

Harvest the fruit from the branches as some begin to ripen and open. Use the fruit in cooking, as a spicy seasoning and to tenderize meat. It turns second-rate into first-rate meat. 

With a slightly sweet flavor, it has a polka pulp and can be consumed fresh. Fruit very appreciated by bats, that disperse their seeds.

This species is one of the sweetest in the Cerrado!

The fruiting peak of these fruits coincides with the Easter season, hence its popular name in Portuguese which translates to "blood of Christ".

The most abundant native palm in Brazil, an indicator of soil water. The fruits are very rich in vitamins and the leaves and stems are used for construction and crafts.

The same size and shape of a pear, its fruits are very acidic, being indicated for the preparation of juices and sweets.

From the same family as the blueberry (Vaccinium myrtillus), this species occurs close to water courses and has practically unexplored food potential in the Cerrado.