If we were to write a comprehensive guide to Brazilian fruits, we’d have to publish a book with 300+ entries. That number would jump to over 900 if we included all the varieties grown in the country — not to mention specific cultivars.
That’s why we opted to focus on 28 fruits both native to and popular in Brazil, from beloved coconuts and guavas to kooky mangabas and cupuaçus.
Ready to dive into this irresistible microcosm of Brazilian fruits? Come with us!
Brazilian Fruits by Birthright
Let’s start off with fruits originating entirely within Brazil’s borders. This section could go on forever. So, because we don’t want to get too obscure, we’ve selected only a handful of 100% Brazilian fruits.
1. Passion Fruits
Passion fruits are known in Portuguese as maracujás, which means “bowl-shaped food” in Tupi (i.e. Brazil’s most spoken indigenous language). It’s indeed one of our national passions, though! Being kind of runny and extraordinarily seedy to be eaten raw, they’re perfect when juiced, shaken into cocktails, or topping mousses and custard tarts.
2. Umbus aka Brazil plums
Growing in the dry scrubland that covers much of northeastern Brazil, umbu trees had to adapt accordingly. Their roots can store up to 1,000 L (264 gal), allowing them to live for 100+ years and turning them into the countryside’s sacred tree.
Umbus are faintly acidic and, after ripening, will last three days tops before going bad. So apart from being eaten raw, they’re also highly regarded in desserts.
Bacuris originate between Northern and Northeastern Brazil and are really popular in Belém do Pará, i.e. the gateway to the Brazilian Amazon. Weighing up to 1 kg (2.2 lb), they’re awesome for making juices, jellies, liqueurs, sherbets,… And on top of that, bacuri oil and butter are used locally as home remedies.
Cambucis were long endangered due to the destruction of the ecosystem they’re associated with, the Atlantic rainforest. Luckily, several initiatives in the past 10+ years have successfully improved their conservation status. Rural São Paulo is where you’re most likely to retrieve this flying-saucer-shaped, slightly sour fruitlet.
This Brazilian fruit tree comes from the savannas in central Brazil. While its name means something along the lines of “bitter when eaten” in Tupi, it’s said to be pretty sweet. Since nobody grows gabirobas commercially, you’ll have to visit the vast expanses to the west of Brasília to get hold of them.
Fruits from the Amazon Basin
Among other Brazilian fruits, the most biodiverse region on the planet just had to gift us with the raw material for making chocolate!
Cacao needs no introduction. In ancient times, it served as a medium of exchange well into southern Mexico. At some point around 1750 BCE, the Olmecs invented the food of the gods that we regularly call chocolate.
In the early 20th century, Brazil was the second-largest producer of cacao worldwide (it’s now fifth). A whole economy centered on the beans developed at the southernmost tip of the state of Bahia, which in turn inspired author Jorge Amado to write a string of bestselling novels (the most celebrated being “Gabriela, Clove and Cinnamon”).
7. Brazil Nuts
The earthy flavor of Brazil nuts is overall quite divisive — often along generation lines. A single nut has about 140% of the recommended daily intake of selenium. Since around 1 billion people seem to be selenium-deficient, this comes in handy. But you should go slow: ingesting an excessive amount of selenium is toxic.
The instagrammability of açaí (/ah-sah-eeh/) bowls has allowed for a true boom of the Brazilian açaí berry in the U.S. and several other countries. In southeastern Brazil, we tend to eat the sweetened cream derived from crushed berries much like abroad (yet with way more açaí and fewer toppings).
That’s almost heresy in the fruit’s native Amazon, though. Over there, the cream is not sweet at all and is served instead alongside shrimp or chicken.
The majority of Brazilians are familiar with guaraná’s weird eye shape solely because of soft drink ads. In fact, the gold-colored beverage m