Saputá

What it is

Saputá is Salacia elliptica, also called siputá, bacupari-da-mata and gulosa-da-mata-atlântica in Brazil. Its round fruit has orange skin and a sweet layer of pulp wrapped around four to eight long seeds. The pulp is eaten fresh or separated from the seeds for drinks and preserves.

Saputá-açu is a different fruit, Peritassa laevigata. The shared names belong to separate plants; Salacia elliptica is the orange-skinned fruit described here.

Where it comes from

Saputá grows across tropical South America, from Colombia, Venezuela and the Guianas through Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia to Brazil and Paraguay. In Brazil it occurs in the Atlantic Forest, the Pantanal and woodland beside rivers in the Cerrado. It is recommended for restoring the Pantanal and Cerrado, where its fruit feeds fish, cattle and other animals.

How it's eaten where it grows

In Brazil, saputá is eaten fresh. The sweet pulp also goes into juice, jelly and ice cream after it is separated from the seeds. At Mundo das Crianças in Jundiaí, it grows among the labelled orchard trees in a park where children can experience picking fruit from a tree.

How it's grown

Saputá usually grows as a tree or shrub, and only rarely as a climbing vine. It has thick, leathery leaves and small greenish-cream flowers, and can grow in sun or partial shade. It usually begins bearing fruit at seven to ten years old.

Freshness matters when growing it from seed: the seeds lose their ability to sprout in less than a month. Cleaned seeds are planted in individual bags and usually sprout in 40–90 days.

When and where you'll find it

At the Mundo das Crianças orchard in Jundiaí, São Paulo state, saputá usually fruits from November through March. The park has two separate orchard areas, with QR-code labels on the trees. Its label there reads Saputá, Salacia elliptica.