Author Topic: Article about the known uses and cultivation of Hymenaea Coubaril (corrected)  (Read 102 times)

Green dream 973

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PRESENTATION AND CULTIVATION :
Hymenaea courbaril is commonly known as the "courbaril", "West Indian locust", "Brazilian copal", and "amami-gum", and "jatobá".

Although it is sometimes referred to as "Brazilian cherry" and "South American cherry", it is not a cherry tree but a legume of the family Fabaceae. It is also known as "stinking toe", "old man's toe", and "stinktoe" because of the particular odor (some describe it as unpleasant, especially person who haven't tried it as a child) of the edible pulp of its seed pods.
 It is also one of the richest vegetable foods known, thanks to its high concentrations of starches and proteins


 The tree is a noble evergreen tree with massive spreading branches and a heavy, umbrella-shaped crown. It grows slowly, but can reach an eventual height of 30 metres, with old specimens growing up to 50-60 metres in the amazonian forest. It is an important Neotropical species, with low population density restricted to fragments of semideciduous forests with low mortality and low recruitment.


 The straight, cylindrical bole can be unbranched for 12 - 24 metres and is usually 60 - 120cm in diameter, though specimens up to 150cm have been recorded. Although the trees are usually evergreen, they can shed their leaves in a drought.

Hymenaea coubaril is a very important multi-purpose tree, it is harvested from the wild as a local source of food, medicines and various commodities and is exploited commercially for its timber and gum, sometimes cultivated and encouraged to grow semi-wild as a food crop, it is also appreciated because of it's ability to fix nitrogen on the worst soils.
Naturally it grows on varied soils: sandy, clayey, volcanic, hydromorphic and is quite adaptable.  But it grow better on healthy, clay-rich and well-drained soils

• Grow And Maturity :

Typically, a coubaril will begin to produce fruit between 8 and 10 years after planting.  However, under ideal conditions, it can start producing fruit as early as 6 years old.  Once it begins to fruit, it continues to produce fruit for many years.

For you to make an idea at 5 years old, a coubaril is about 4 to 6 meters in height.

 At 10, it can reach a height of about 8 to 12 meters.

 At 15, its size can vary between 12 and 18 meters. At age 20, a coubaril can measure about 15 to 25 meters in height.

 At the age of 30 or more, it can reach a height of 25 to 35 meters, or more, depending on the growth conditions. These measurements of course vary depending on the environment, climate and tree care.

 USES :

- FOR CRAFTS : It is a hardwood measuring 5.6 on the Brinell scale and 2,350 lbf (10,500 N) on the Janka scale, approximate measurements of hardness. For comparison, Douglas fir measures 660 lbf (2,900 N), white oak 1,360 lbf (6,000 N), and Brazilian walnut 3,800 lbf (17,000 N) on the Janka scale. It features a tan to salmon color with black accent stripes that over time turn to a deep and vibrant red. is used for furniture, flooring, and decoration.

The pretty thick and flat seeds are used in necklaces and decorations.

Resin can be used to make homemade & biological mosquito repellent and in the making of torches in replacement of bee wax.

OF THE RESIN: coubaril produces an orange/translucent (when dry & pure in my experience, soft, sticky when fresh resin or gum, called "animé" French for "animated", in reference to its insect-infested resin when collected on the bark since the tree is in it's natural state an important refuge/source of food for diverses insect and animal populations).

The resin melts readily over fire, and softens even with the heat of the mouth. It diffuses white fumes and a very pleasant odor. When collected from the bark without protection insects are often entrapped in it in large numbers. It is insoluble in water, and nearly so in cold alcohol. It is similar to copal in its nature and appearance, and a copal from Zanzibar is sometimes given this name.

The production of animé may be encouraged by wounding the bark. The resin collects between the principal roots (but can in my experience also be found in fruit in a form without any impurity, this production very occasional probably result from an insect attack during the beginning of pod formation).


Amber ( also called copal) was also found, which proves that their existence goes back a long time. Its sap, as I said also called animé and "gomme copal" ("copal gum"), is used as medicine but also as a varnish which was very appreciated by Native American and neocolonial societies.

For the record, sapajous, small monkeys living in the humid and hot forests of Central and South America, coat their coats with Courbaril sap to protect themselves from mosquito bites to which they are very  sensitive.  They found that it is an extremely effective natural repellent.

MEDICINAL USES : this plant has been used for a long time by natives of the Amazon.  It was registered in Brazilian herbal medicine in 1930. First described by Dr. J. Monteiro Silva who recommended it for diarrhea, dysentery, asthenia, intestinal gas, dyspepsia,  hematuria and hemoptysis. Native brazilians use resin internally to treat diseases of the lungs. It was formerly an ingredient of ointments and plasters.


- AS A SUPER PROMISING FOOD SOURCE : It have hard fruit pods who drop to the ground when mature with an aromatic edible dry pulp surrounding the seeds. The odor may not be pleasant at first for non initiated  (myself who isn't local and friends who tasted it as childs find it a delicacy), Its fruit also known as locust was a major food for indigenous peoples. Those who eat it do not consider the odor unpleasant. The pulp, in spite of its somewhat disagreeable odor have a surprisingly complex and sweet taste. If consumed raw it tends to stick inside the mouth like dry dust (or baobab fruits for those familiar).

 It is also one of the richest vegetable foods known because of its high concentrations of starches and proteins.

- IN PREPARATIONS : The fresh pulp of the fruit is here enjoyed raw during walks in the forest The pulp inside the hard shells appears like miniature soluble fibers that dissolve easily in water or milk, which it thickens. Some add sugar to it for more sweetness while other prefer the fruit untransformed for a stronger and more complex taste .

 Delicious in jam, cakes and hot/cold beverage, for the most picky eaters jam always convinces, despite a particular smell often described as unpleasant like with durian (I find that it smells and taste like a pretty ripe banana, nothing to do with its local name literally meaning "dog poop") , it is consumed raw; may be dried and transformed into powder to be incorporated into cookies, crackers, and soups (never tried this one, can't vouch for it) and may be mixed with water to prepare a drink called "atole" for those curious you can find my atole recipe below .


- ATOLE RECIPE (NOT THE TRADITIONAL ONE )   (up to my tastes as I find the banana aroma more developed when cooked, the texture is also more uniform)

 For 300g of dry pulp with 700ml of water add 30g of brown sugar, then heat it, mix to dissolve the stubborn pieces for 30 minutes over very low heat and strain with a sieve, I use the hot juice as a substitute for milk chocolate although I have never tried it with milk. Nothing is thrown away with this fruit, the pulp obtained after this filtering with a sieve to make the drink can be reused to make a jam (with the quantities given above half pulp, half sugar and half a glass of juice to obtain 375g of well cooked jam).


- FOR ANIMAL FEEDING : It is further an excellent concentrated feed for animals. Pig, goats chicken and other non picky eater birds love this fruit, it can apparently be feed to more animals but I'll speak only of what I've observed here. It have also a great potential for insect feeding in particular for BSFL (black soldier flies), mealworms, cricket, ants but probably also other edibles insects.


It is better used for forest garden and for reforestation purposes (it also have many possible uses in tropical agroforestry systems, here in Guyana it have the potential with a combination of other trees to transform savannah into forest)  due to the hard and sometimes quite heavy seed pods it's better not to plant this tree too close to houses as the roots by their vigor risk penetrating pipes as well as the houses basement in addition, fruits can cause injuries with high trees (15+ year) when it falls especially to children and little animals.


 
Here are the online/physical sources used in my research as a base, the rest being from my observations on field and of  conclusions made after discussing with local about their uses for this plant, I hope you'll enjoy this article the first I ever wrote to be honest :
 https://www.scielo.br/j/hoehnea/a/sCTPtVjgvm3mJYSYqpsXGWc/?lang=en

https://tropical.theferns.info/viewtropical.php?id=Hymenaea+courbaril

Guide des arbres de Guyane 3ème édition (Hélène Richard et Joseph Ateni)

« Last Edit: March 23, 2024, 07:44:33 PM by Green dream 973 »