Any ideas what kind of fruit this is?

[FruitAddict]

A friend of mine contacted me and asked if this is edible and the name of the fruit.  Any ideas?  Thank you in advance.

[sytanta]

Looks like Pachira insignis. Its seeds are edible.

[fruitlovers]

It is Pachira glabra, malabar chestnut, or French peanut. Yes seeds are edible raw, sprouted or cooked.
Pachira insignis has brown pods and red flowers. Pachira glabra has green pods and white flowers.

[KarenRei]

Agreed with the above. P. glabra is a common houseplant, sold as "money plant" or incorrectly as "Pachira aquatica" (a related species), often with multiple plants in the same pot with the stems entwined. The above is what happens when you put them in the ground outside   

[FruitAddict]

Thank you for your replies.  The friend tasted the seeds.  She said it tastes exactly like raw peanuts.

[Chandramohan]

Is Pachira aquatica seeds edible?

[KarenRei]

Yes, P. aquatica is as well.  Note that if you acquired a "P. aquatica"  in the horticultural trade, it's probably actually P. glabra. How big and what colour is the pod?  P. aquatica pods are larger and brown, P. glabra are smaller and green.

It's worth noting that there's some controversy about the safety of eating pachira nuts, at least in quantity.

https://www.daleysfruit.com.au/forum/is-malabar-chestnut-toxic/

Reports are mixed. Some people eat them just fine, but some have reported bad reactions.  It may have to do with species, variety, genetics, etc.  It doesn't make it any easier to wring out the truth in that people are constantly misidentifying species... Either way, I'd recommend cooking them just to be sure.  Cooking dramatically reduces the content of cyclopropenic acids:

https://books.google.is/books?id=MaAZMbSxNt4C&pg=PA68&lpg=PA68&dq=cyclopropenic+fatty+acids+cooking&source=bl&ots=iBaEHgfgOG&sig=XvWrx16yBQlRBasrq_2y051kNRM&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiuhdOckfTYAhWKL1AKHTl4BCoQ6AEIODAD#v=onepage&q&f=false

I found another paper that mentioned "major decomposition" of cyclopropanoic acids at 180°C:

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2621.1983.tb14837.x/full

You'd obviously have to fry them in oil (deep frying temperatures = 190-225°C) or roast in a hot oven to reach those temperatures; boiling obviously won't cut it.  But, the nuts are supposedly quite good roasted or fried...

Even raw though, sola dosis facit venenum.... "Everything is poison and nothing is without poison... it is the dose that makes the poison."  Eat lots of food with oxalic acid and you won't like the result either.  Theobromine is poisonous when overconsumed.  Caffeine.  Nutmeg is toxic and hallucinogenic.  Heck, most spices contain oils that have been found to be carcinogenic or otherwise harmful in various ways (eucalyptol = reproductive toxicity, safrole = carcinogenic, eugenol = hepatoxic... need we even get started on tannins?) .  And let's not open up the old annonacin can of worms!  But you also consume a lot of stuff that's good for you at the same time when you eat a diverse diet.  So long as you don't overconsume something, I wouldn't worry.  I eat rhubarb, chocolate, tea/coffee, nutmeg, spices, tannin-rich foods, and yes, annonas. And I would certainly eat the occasional pachira nut 

[Chandramohan]

Thank you, Karen. I do not yet have a P.aquatica plant, but I am planning to get some seeds.

[fruitlovers]

The Pachira aquatica that is in USA, like the tree at Fairchild gardens, Florida, is terrible tasting. The ones from Brazil are quite good tasting. I think what is happening is maybe that because pachira hybridizes very easily some of them are terrible to eat having been crossed with other species at some point.