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Edibles collected from Sth America

 

Carica pentagona - Babaco

This amazing plant is the reason Dick went to South America in the first place. He had seen the trial plants at the DSIR and really wanted to grow this fruit himself. He found a contact in Ecuador, then learnt Spanish and off he went. This first trip was a real eye opener and the start of many trips back to collect other plants that he had seen. He returned to NZ with about 30 cuttings. These became the stock plants in which he propagated over 1000 plants before he sold any. The plant produces up to 30 kgs of fruit in 12 months. Unlike most pawpaws, Babacos don't need a male plant to fertilise the flowers. The plants are all female and the fruit are seedless. Babacos are not really seen outside Ecuador and NZ was the first country to commercialise this crop. Fruit was exported to Japan, italy, Australia and the USA. The 1987 sharemarket crash took Babacos with it. Landsendt's crop was stored in a coolstore that went bust. It became a domino effect which basically destroyed the industry. With the current economic troubles, babacos will have a revival as they are such an easy fruit to grow and people are looking more and more to grow their own fresh fruit.

 

Cyphromandra casana

This plant was discovered in Ecuador by Joy Hofmann, on her farm 'El Bosque'. She was Dick's guide on his trips. The plant is a wild species of Solanum, similar to tamarillo. Dick named it 'Casana'. It had not been formally classified before that. The trees seem to grow better in the shade. The fruit is yellow and sweet. Joy's farm  'El Bosque' is 10,000 ha. The large tract of land was bought to save it from the general destruction that happens throughout this region. There are many plants including wild foods, orchids and bromeliads that have not been botanically classified. The province of Loja, where El Bosque is situated is a fruit bowl in the Andes. The climate is similar to NZ and the reason why these fruit grow so well here even though they come from the equator. Many plants from this region are the descendants of the hybrid fruit crops we have become accustomed to.