Native to Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula, the stone fruit is now cultivated in Mexico, Florida, Panama, Guatemala and Brazil. The indigenous peoples of the Mayan civilization already appreciated the fruit and regarded acerola as a source of health.
Ingredients
The fruit is considered a superfood, because it contains the third highest content of vitamin C. Per 100g are about 1700mg of vitamin C. However, the content is highly dependent on the location of the plant or the degree of ripeness of the fruit.
Furthermore, acerola also provides valuable minerals such as calcium, magnesium, phosphate or iron.
Application
In traditional medicine, the fruits are often used for their anti-inflammatory, immunostimulant as well as diuretic properties. Thus, they are used to strengthen the cardiovascular system or wound healing and for the treatment of gastrointestinal diseases.