Acerola is a fruit that is native to South America, the Central Caribbean and Central America. It is known as cherry barbados or cherry of the West Indies. It is well known because of its high content of ascorbic acid , ie a vitamin, which meets the daily needs of vitamin C. It is important to emphasize that the more the Acerola cherry is green , the more it will have vitamin C and, depending on the time of harvest, there may be a change in the amount of vitamin C. In addition, acerola contains vitamin A, B1, B2, B3, calcium, phosphorus and iron .
Acerola varies in color, size and shape because there are several species . It is a fruit that is very fragile and only stays on the cherry tree two days after maturation . As far as taste is concerned, acerola can be sweet , acidic and super acidic and its use is very important in the production of Brazilian juice and powder in Europe .
Cherry tree acerola explanation
The Comptoir de Toamasina has a test plantation in Brazil and tells you everything about cherry acerola and cherry.
In Brazil, it is said that it was born from a tree called aceroleira that grew in a tropical or subtropical climate.
Its proliferation is rapid, by the seeds, the graft or the cut.
It takes an average size each year. Under constant irrigation, the tree produces fruits all the year round and in the nature, in the Cerrado or in town it will produce 4 crops.
In this case, cherry blossoms and fructifies mainly in spring and summer.
Climate and soil to grow acerola
Acerola cherry is a hardy plant that grows well in tropical and subtropical climates and withstands temperatures near 0ºC .
She likes an average annual temperature around 25º.
A rain well distributed over the year is a plus with an annual average between 1300 and 1500.
The most suitable soils for acerola are deep sandy soils and well-drained sandy-clay soils .