Puçá

What it is

Mouriri pusa produces thin-skinned fruit about 2–3 cm (0.8–1.2 in) across, round or slightly elongated. One to four seeds sit inside the sweet pulp. Yellow, brown and black are names for separate skin-colour forms.

In the black form, ripening means the skin loses its green colour and darkens, the flesh becomes yellower and the fruit softens. A ripe yellow puçá belongs to a different colour form.

Where it comes from

Puçá comes from Brazil’s Cerrado and also grows in the Caatinga. Its range includes Bahia, Piauí and Minas Gerais. Around Pilão Arcado in Bahia, it grows in wet areas where the Cerrado and Caatinga meet. In Piauí, people remember it as a childhood fruit, gathered during walks into the bush.

How it's eaten where it grows

Fresh fruit is the main way people eat puçá, with juice and liqueur among its other uses. In the Rio Novo community of Jalapão, Deusenir José, known as Deusa, makes puçá jam. She brought it to the Agrotins fair in 2024, and her jam has also gone into drinks at a local establishment.

How it's grown

The puçá tree can reach 8 m (26 ft), with a small crown, twisting trunks and thick bark that protects it during Cerrado fires. Fruit grows close against the trunk. Birds visit for the fruit, while the flowers attract bees. Its scented white flowers have four petals and gather along woody, leafless sections of the branches as well as the main trunk.

When and where you'll find it

In Piauí, puçá belongs to roadside selling and open-air markets as well as wild gathering. In Jalapão, jam is another way the fruit reaches people, through small local producers such as Deusa in Rio Novo. Fresh fruit, juice, liqueur and jam are its different food forms in these Brazilian communities.