Plant · P-496

Jaboticaba

Plinia cauliflora

Jaboticaba grows its fruit straight out of the trunk and older branches instead of at the branch tips, so harvest means picking grape-like purple fruit off the bark itself. The fruit has a pleasant vinous flavor and is eaten fresh or made into jelly, syrup, preserve and wine, but it starts fermenting two to four days after picking, so it has to be used almost immediately rather than stored or shipped. It needs frost-free warmth to grow outdoors, but its slow growth and tolerance for hard pruning make it one of the better long-lived tropical fruit trees for a large container - though a seed-grown tree can take six to ten years before it bears its first fruit.