Peanut butter fruit facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Peanut butter fruit
Bunchosia glandulifera in Ft. Myers, Florida
Scientific classification
Genus:	Bunchosia
Species:	glandulifera

The peanut butter fruit (scientific name: Bunchosia glandulifera) is a cool plant that grows in Central America and South America. It's part of the acerola family. This plant gets its fun name because its small, orange-red fruits have a sticky inside that tastes and smells a lot like peanut butter!

People mostly enjoy eating the fruit fresh. But you can also use it to make yummy jellies, jams, or other sweet treats. In Brazil, some people call it caferana or falso guarana because its berries look a bit like coffee beans.

What is Peanut Butter Fruit?

The peanut butter fruit plant is an evergreen shrub or a small tree. It can grow up to about 7 to 8 meters (around 23 to 26 feet) tall. When people grow it, they often keep it smaller, but it can spread out to about 6 meters (20 feet) wide.

What Does the Plant Look Like?

• The leaves of the peanut butter fruit tree are a bit hairy. They also have wavy edges, which makes them easy to spot.
• The tree's bark is usually grayish-brown. It can be smooth or a little rough.
• This tree grows pretty fast and can handle some cold weather, which is good for growing it in different places.

What Do the Fruits Look Like?

• The fruits are shaped like an oval. They are mostly smooth and have a few tiny hairs.
• They start orange and turn red when they are ripe.
• Each fruit is about 2 to 3.5 centimeters (about 1 to 1.5 inches) long.
• They have a thin skin that feels a bit like rubber.
• Inside, there's usually one or two seeds. These seeds are light brownish and about 1 to 1.5 centimeters long.
• The red inside of the fruit is sticky, a little juicy, and sweet.
• You can pick the fruits when they are still orange and let them ripen for a couple of days. They will become soft and turn bright red!

How is it Different from Similar Plants?

For a while, the peanut butter fruit was sometimes confused with another plant called Bunchosia argentea. But it's actually easy to tell them apart!

• The Bunchosia argentea plant has flat leaves. The back of its leaves looks silvery because they are covered in very dense hairs.
• The Bunchosia glandulifera (peanut butter fruit) has leaves with wavy edges. The hairs on the back of its leaves are not as thick, so you can still see the leaf's surface.
• Also, Bunchosia argentea is not usually grown by people, while peanut butter fruit is.