Byrsonima crassifolia


Byrsonima crassifolia is a species of flowering plant bearing fruit in the acerola family, Malpighiaceae, that is native to tropical America. Common names include changunga, muruci, murici, nanche, nance, nancite, chacunga, craboo, kraabu, savanna serrette and golden spoon. In Jamaica it is called hogberry.
It's valued for its small round, sweet yellow fruit which is strongly scented. The fruits have a very pungent and distinct flavor and smell. The taste has been described as combination of pear, lychee and banana. When jarred, the texture resembles that of an green or kalamata olive.

Description and habitat

Byrsonima crassifolia is a slow-growing large shrub or tree to 33 ft. Sometimes cultivated for its edible fruits, the tree is native and abundant in the wild, sometimes in extensive stands, in open pine forests and grassy savannas, from central Mexico, through Central America, to Colombia, Peru, Bolivia and Brazil; it also occurs in Trinidad, Barbados, Curaçao, St. Martin, Dominica, Guadeloupe, Puerto Rico, Haiti, the Dominican Republic and throughout Cuba and the Isle of Pines. The nance is limited to tropical and subtropical climates. In Central and South America, the tree ranges from sea-level to an altitude of 6,000 ft. It is highly drought-tolerant.

Example ecoregions of occurrence

Found in a number of tropical and subtropical ecoregions of the Americas that feature conifers, an example ecoregion of occurrence for B. crassifolia is the Belizean pine forests.

Uses

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, it is a popular ingredient for several desserts, including raspados and a dessert made by leaving the fruit to ferment with some sugar in a bottle for several months -- this is sometimes called "nancite in vinegar".
The fruits are also often used to prepare carbonated beverages, ice cream and juice, in Brazil, flavor mezcal-based liqueurs, or make an oily, acidic, fermented beverage known as chicha, the standard term applied to assorted beer-like drinks made of fruits or maize. Nance is used to distill a rum-like liquor called crema de nance in Costa Rica. Mexico produces a licor de nanche.