Author Topic: Herrania  (Read 690 times)

TheGivingTree

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Herrania
« on: July 18, 2021, 08:27:30 AM »
Anyone else growing herrania species? Not much info on them. Is the fruit worth it?

Finca La Isla

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Re: Herrania
« Reply #1 on: July 18, 2021, 10:00:03 PM »
Herrania are nice little trees that can be easily grown under other fruit trees since they are shade loving understory trees. We think of them as ornamentals but the fruits are alright.
Peter




TomekK

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Re: Herrania
« Reply #2 on: July 18, 2021, 10:10:46 PM »
You should find the book on Herranias by Schultes, it’s available somewhere online for free. If you can’t find it, let me know and I can send it to you through Google Drive. It talks about all the herrania species individually. An interesting point is that the natives keep Herranias when they clear rainforest land for farming, holding the fruit in high enough esteem to warrant leaving the trees.

In my limited experience, the pulp was mucilaginous and not exactly pleasant texture-wise, but the flavor was good. In the above-mentioned book, Schultes notes that the natives prefer the fruit slightly unripe, perhaps because of the texture. Lemony taste I would describe it.

Probably you can make a kind of chocolate from the seeds, but I don’t know how good it would be. Seeds are quite different than theobromas, smaller and without folded cotyledons, but they contain both caffeine and theobromine. Also, some seeds I recently got that were starting to ferment (but not enough to inhibit germination) did smell kind of like chocolate (the same as fermenting cacao seeds).

If I was in a tropical environment, I would put herranias everywhere, as the trees are small, the fruit useful, and the flowers striking.

fruitlovers

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Re: Herrania
« Reply #3 on: July 18, 2021, 11:22:12 PM »
You should find the book on Herranias by Schultes, it’s available somewhere online for free. If you can’t find it, let me know and I can send it to you through Google Drive. It talks about all the herrania species individually. An interesting point is that the natives keep Herranias when they clear rainforest land for farming, holding the fruit in high enough esteem to warrant leaving the trees.

In my limited experience, the pulp was mucilaginous and not exactly pleasant texture-wise, but the flavor was good. In the above-mentioned book, Schultes notes that the natives prefer the fruit slightly unripe, perhaps because of the texture. Lemony taste I would describe it.

Probably you can make a kind of chocolate from the seeds, but I don’t know how good it would be. Seeds are quite different than theobromas, smaller and without folded cotyledons, but they contain both caffeine and theobromine. Also, some seeds I recently got that were starting to ferment (but not enough to inhibit germination) did smell kind of like chocolate (the same as fermenting cacao seeds).

If I was in a tropical environment, I would put herranias everywhere, as the trees are small, the fruit useful, and the flowers striking.
It's an article on herrania genus rather than a book. You can read it here: https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/8445631#page/220/mode/1up
Oscar

TheGivingTree

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Re: Herrania
« Reply #4 on: July 19, 2021, 08:32:35 AM »
Thanks gentz. What a stunning little tree. Can they be hybridized with theobromas? Graft compatible?