Plant family: Sapotaceae
Plant origin: South America, Amazon area
Fruit description: Abiu is a deliciously sweet fruit with a distinctive caramel taste! The pulp is white and translucent and has a creamy jelly-like texture. The Abiu is a large round or oval shaped fruit 6cm to 12cm in size. The fruit has a smooth leathery skin, and is bright yellow or orange when ripe. Abiu fruit usually contain one ovate shaped seed. Fruit can be ripened after picking. Each tree can produce one hundred or more fruits each year.
Flowers: The flowers can occur singly or in clusters of two to five flowers. They appear on the leaf axils on long, thin shoots. The flowers are small with four to five petals. The petals are cylindrical, white to greenish in colour. The flowers are hermaphroditic, meaning they are both male and female. The flowers open in the morning and can stay open for about two days.
Growing conditions: The Abiu likes sub-tropical and tropical conditions, especially with a year round warm, moist climate, but can do well in a cooler climates. Abiu plants prefer moist soil. When you first plant the tree, protect it from wind and cold weather. Feed the plant frequently with small applications of fertiliser. It grows to a height of 4 to 8 metres.
Uses: The Abiu fruit is so nice and sweet it is usually eaten fresh. It is best to cut one in half and eat the soft sweet flesh with a spoon. It can be eaten with ice cream, yoghurt, sprinkled with lime juice, or eaten chilled. They are delicious however you eat them !
Medicinal uses: In South America, ripe Abiu fruit are eaten to relieve coughs, bronchitis, and other pulmonary complaints. The Abiu fruit is also used as a remedy for anaemia, inflammation, fever, and diarrhoea.
Pollination requirements: Self - Pollinating. Although the Abiu is considered to be self-pollinating, sometimes they benefit from cross-pollinating with another Abiu plant to set a greater number of fruit.The flowers can occur singly or in clusters of two to five flowers. They appear on the leaf axils on long, thin shoots. The flowers are small with four to five petals. The petals are cylindrical, white to greenish in colour. The flowers are hermaphroditic, meaning they are both male and female. The flowers open in the morning and can stay open for about two days.
Harvest time February, March, April, May. Abius usually start to fruit after 2 years of planting.
Plant relatives
Special features: Abiu is a long lived tree. The wood of the Abiu tree is hard and dense and can be used in carpentry.
Grown by method: Seed Grown Pot size: 5 litre
Plant growing Height and Width for pots or in the ground planting: Grows to 2 metres high by 1.5 metres wide if Planted in a Pot. Grows 4 to 8 metres high by 4 metres wide if Planted in the Ground.
Shipping plant pot or planter bag size: 5 litre
