Camu camu

Myrciaria dubia

fruit

Small, very sour red berries of a shrub from the Amazon rainforest, of the guava family, mostly sold as powder or juice. They provide vitamin C in record amounts, with ellagitannins.

Origin

Peruvian Amazon

Season (United States)

imported · all year round

Preparation

Outside the Amazon, it is bought as powder: a teaspoon is stirred raw into juice, a smoothie or yoghurt. Fresh, it is too sour to bite into: it is pressed into a sweetened juice, without the stone.

Molecules

Ellagitannins · Vitamin C

Did you know?

Its vitamin C reaches 2 to 3% of the fresh fruit's weight — only the Kakadu plum, in Australia, does better; it falls as the fruit ripens.