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Byrsonima crassifolia
Also called Golden Spoon, Craboo, Nance
Byrsonima crassifolia is a slow-growing shrub or small tree to about 10 m, native from Mexico to tropical South America, grown mainly for its sweet, strongly scented yellow fruits. It is very drought tolerant and suited to seasonally dry tropical climates.
Byrsonima crassifolia is a species of flowering plant in the family Malpighiaceae, native to tropical America. Common names used in English include nance, maricao cimun, craboo, and golden spoon. In Jamaica it is called hogberry.
The plant is valued for its small (between one, and one and a quarter centimeter in diameter) round, sweet yellow fruit, which is strongly scented. The fruits have a very pungent and distinct flavor and smell. When jarred, their texture resembles that of a green or kalamata olive.
The fruits are eaten raw or cooked as dessert. In rural Panama, the dessert prepared with the addition of sugar and flour, known as pesada de nance, is quite popular. The fruits are also made into dulce de nance, a candy prepared with the fruit cooked in sugar and water. In Nicaragua (where the fruit is called nancite), it is a popular ingredient for several desserts, including raspados (a frozen dessert made from a drink prepared with nancites) and a dessert made by leaving the fruit to ferment with some sugar in a bottle for several months (usually from harvest around August–September until December); this is sometimes called "nancite in vinegar".
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Byrsonima crassifolia 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.
