Babaco

Babaco
Babaco fruit being sold as food
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Eudicots
(unranked):	Rosids
Order:	Brassicales
Family:	Caricaceae
Genus:	Vasconcellea
Species:	V. × heilbornii
Binomial name
Vasconcellea × heilbornii (V.M.Badillo) V.M.Badillo

The Babaco (Vasconcellea × heilbornii; syn. Carica pentagona), is a hybrid cultivar in the genus Vasconcellea from Ecuador. It is a hybrid between Vasconcellea cundinamarcensis (syn. Carica pubescens, "Mountain Papaya".), and Vasconcellea stipulata (syn. Carica stipulata, "Toronche".).

Growth

It can grow at high altitudes (over 2,000 m), and is the most cold-tolerant plant in the genus Vasconcellea. The babaco is classified as a herbaceous shrub like Carica papaya (pawpaw or papaya) but unlike papaya it produces only female flowers. The babaco plant can produce from 30–60 fruits annually, and has an average life span of about eight years. The small plant is better suited as a container specimen than its cousin the papaya, which needs constant moisture and high temperatures to survive.

Characteristics

It is a small, unbranched or sparsely branched tree reaching 5–8 m tall. The fruit differs from the related papaya (C. papaya) in being narrower, typically less than 10 cm in diameter. The babaco fruit is seedless and the smooth skin can be eaten, and is said to have tastes of strawberry, papaya, kiwi and pineapple. The fruit is pentagonal in shape, therefore giving it the scientific name of Carica pentagona. The fruit is not especially acidic, but contains papain, a proteolytic enzyme, which may cause mild irritation or "burns".

Like the papaya, the babaco is grown for its edible fruit and for its fruit juice. Cultivation away from its native range has been successful as far south as New Zealand, and as far north as California, some regions of England, Guernsey, Channel Islands, and somewhat also in Italy (mostly Sicily and Calabria).

References

• Babaco Carica Pentagona
• Germplasm Resources Information Network: Vasconcellea ×heilbornii
• California Rare Fruit Growers Babaco fact sheet