What is Borojo?
Family:
Rubiaceae
Common name: Borojo.
Scientific Name:
Borojoa patinoi Cuatrec. There
is also Borojoa sorbilis Cuatrec.
Both species are similar, varying in the
type of floor where it grows. This website
focuses on Borojoa patinoi.
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Borojo's
economic importance: Borojo can
be found in the wild and commercial plantations.
It is used for human consumption as: Juice,
ice cream, capsules and jelly, to mention
a few.
Description:
The Borojo tree is about 3-5 meters. The fruit
has 7 to 12 centimeters in diameter, and its color
is green. The pulp is brown, acid, and very dense
(30º Brix, consisting mostly of fructose
and glucose). The fruit has around 90 to 600 seeds,
and it is considered ripe when it falls in the
floor.
Under the name Borojo are known
some species of Rubiaceae, that grow in the Amazonia
and Central America, all of them with the same
popular use, and with similar properties.
Geographic distribution
and origin:
Some parts of Colombia (Humid forests), Ecuador,
and Panama (Darién). Borojo is found in
the rainy forests, on the rainy region of the
Pacific coast of Colombia, where the annual average
rain fall is more than 4,000 mm; The average temperature
is 28ēC and the relative humidity 85%. It grows
in the shade of other trees. Adapts well up to
1,200 m altitude.
This plant grows mainly in the zone
of “Geographic Chocó”. Among
other species of the genus Borojoa, only the so
called “puruí from Bajo Amazonas,
(B. sorbilis y B. verticillata), are similar to
chocoan borojo.
Characteristic DNA sequences of
main species of Borojoa and of Borojoa sp. Have
been determined by Claes Persson , from Botanical
Institute, Göteborg University, Sweden.
The
Borojo fruit weights an average of 740 g, where
88% is pulp, and 12% seeds and shell. The pulp
of this fruit has high content of carbohydrates
and calcium.
Borojo tree
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Borojo fruit |
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