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Brosimum alicastrum
Also called Breadnut, Cow Tree, Milk Tree
Breadnut is a large tropical forest tree native to Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean, grown for its edible seeds. It is grown outdoors in warm, humid lowlands, not as a houseplant.
Brosimum alicastrum, commonly known as ojoxitli (from Nahuatl, Hispanicized as ojite or ojoche), ramón (also ramón de vaca), breadnut, Maya nut and many others, is a tree species in the family Moraceae of flowering plants, whose other genera include figs and mulberries. It is native to Mexico, Central America, northern and western South America, and to Cuba and Jamaica in the western Caribbean.
The species was described by Olof Swartz in 1788. Two subspecies are accepted:
This tree is found on the west coast of central Mexico and in southern Mexico (Yucatán, Campeche), Guatemala, El Salvador, the Caribbean, and the Amazon basin. Large stands occur in moist lowland tropical forests at 300–2,000 m (980–6,560 ft) elevation (especially 125–800 m), in humid areas with annual rainfall of 600–2,000 mm (24–79 in), and average temperatures of 24 °C (75 °F).
The Maya nut is high in fiber, calcium, potassium, iron, zinc, protein and B vitamins. It has a low glycemic index (<50) and is very high in antioxidants and prebiotic fiber. The fresh seeds can be cooked and eaten or can be set out to dry in the sun and roasted and milled into a chocolatey tasting powder. Stewed, the nut tastes like mashed potato; roasted, it tastes like chocolate or coffee. It can be prepared in numerous other dishes. In Petén, Guatemala, the breadnut is cultivated for exportation and local consumption as powder, for hot beverages, and bread.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Brosimum alicastrum by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
