Maqui

What it is

Wild berries are tiny, no more than about 0.5 cm (0.2 in) across, and most of each berry is seed: four to eight small, angled ones. With orchard care, the berries can grow larger, around 0.7–0.9 cm (about 0.3 in). Ripe fruit is dark violet to glossy black.

Fresh maqui tastes sweet. The deep-purple powder made from it has a tart berry taste and is stirred into yogurt, oatmeal and smoothies. The fruit also has a long history as a dark-blue dye for yarn and cloth.

Where it comes from

Maqui is native to Chile and neighbouring Argentina. In Chile it grows from Coquimbo southward, on the slopes of both mountain ranges and in the central valley, up to 2,500 m (8,200 ft). It is an ancestral Mapuche food.

Wild-gathered berries are sold commercially. Near Villarrica, in La Araucanía, the family business Chihuaico began drying maqui in 2014, paying women from the local Indigenous community a fair price to gather the fruit.

How it's eaten where it grows

In Chile, maqui has a long life as a drink. Its sweet fruit suits juices and alcoholic drinks, and before the Spanish arrived it went into a refreshing chicha called treco or tecu.

Today, maqui is also dried. Dried berries go into infusions and baking, and the powder goes into yogurt, fruit salads and shakes.

How it's grown

Maqui is a small evergreen tree, easily 5 m (16 ft) tall and sometimes 8 m (26 ft), with male and female flowers on separate plants. Fruit grows on the previous year’s wood. In an orchard, it needs soil that drains well and enough water while the berries develop. Even on one wild plant, the crop does not ripen all at once; glossy violet-black berries mark the harvest stage.

When and where you'll find it

In Chile’s Los Ríos region, maqui usually ripens in late January.

Beyond the harvest, maqui keeps as a dried powder. One US brand makes its powder from wild-gathered berries from southern Chile that are freeze-dried; it goes into oatmeal as well as smoothies.