Souari Nut

Description

Caryocar nuciferum, the butter-nut of Guiana, is also known as pekea-nut, or - like all other species of Caryocar with edible nuts - "souari-nut" or "sawarri-nut". It is a fruit tree native to northern Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guyana, Panama, and Venezuela. This colourful tree grows up to 35 m, in humid forests. Flowers are hermaphroditic and in small clusters. The large coconut-sized fruit, weighs about 3 kg, is round or pear-shaped some 10-15 cm in diameter, and greyish-brown in colour. The outer skin is leathery, about 1 mm thick, and covered in rust-coloured lenticels. It has been called "perhaps the finest of all the fruits called nuts. The kernel is large, soft, and even sweeter than the almond, which it somewhat resembles in taste."