Craboos are small fruits, in the “Bahamian Cherry” family and can be found in Central and South American countries, it was when I was in Belize last July that I got to taste this local fruit that I have not seen before. Craboo is the local name for this fruit which is more commonly known as Nance fruit.
These fruits were growing everywhere that you could practically forage for them, they are super abundant, and just fill the entire tree. But you do not pick them straight from the tree, you have to wait until they drop to the ground this is when they are ripe to eat, otherwise they dont taste so good.
As you can see in the pictures below you can literally get buckets full of these delicious delights
The fruit has a small stone inside, that you spit out, or chew around. Weirdly I thought the taste of the fruit was similar to an artisan type cheese, they are not exactly sweet they have that more savory taste to them. Sometimes people pickle them, or make them into a paste or even stew them.
This handful pictures below are a green colour, you would think that these are unripe, and yes some unripe ones are green. However this is a slightly different variety that is ripe when its green, and actually this was one of my favorites, since each variety has a slightly different taste to them.
Here is a handful of yellow ones, this color seemed to be the most common variety I could find around, im not sure if it was something to do with the season and which color fruits before the other, and i just happen to be there when predominately yellow ones were ripe.
The cherry on the cake is the wonderful health benefits attributed to these fruits
they are is rich in vitamin C, dietary fiber, and other antioxidants, which help reduce the risk of serious health conditions like cancer, stroke and heart disease. they are also a good source of Manganese and Folate.
So have you tried Craboo/ Nance fruit before? would you like to try it?
Let me know in the comments below :)