Bacuri

Platonia insignis · Tropical fruit

40 pairings

Bacuri is the round, thick-rinded fruit of Platonia insignis, a tall canopy tree of the Brazilian Amazon and the surrounding Cerrado. Prized for its intensely aromatic, sweet-tart white pulp, it is one of the region's most sought-after wild fruits and is widely turned into juices, jellies, ice cream and sweets.

Picking a good onedrag

UnderripeOverripe

Turning goldPerfumed and firm enough to travel. It is already as sweet as it will get, so eat it within a few days rather than setting it aside to ripen further.Fine to carry home

Rind colourGreen giving way to yellow at the shoulders

GiveFirm, with the faintest give at the shoulder

SmellA first sweetness through the rind, faint

Stem endStub dry and browning, the scar tight round it

Reading a just ripe one. Move the slider and the rest of this page — nutrition, pairings — re-scores with it.

What one gives you

14%

Usable yield

About 42 g of pulp from a 300 g fruit · rind 64-70%, seeds 13-26%

300 g

Typical weight

one specimen

Keeping ittap a band

No chilling threshold has been measured for bacuri. It came through 7 C clean under film, and nothing colder has been tested, so a cold fridge is a gamble rather than a plan.

Airflow

Wrapped, not bare

The trial fruit was filmed in PVC, and that is what held the losses down. Bare in a fridge the thick rind dries, hardens and cracks, so wrap it loosely before it goes in.

Preparing