Aguaje's personal experiences

I've been familiar with aguaje, and I have really enjoyed it my whole my whole life since my grandparents had lands on the amazon and I have shared part of my life with them, it's been great experience. But there is more than to say than just the topic of talking about the exquisite flavor of the fruit. Researching from various sources I've found out about the great nutrition facts values of this fruit and it's multiple uses.

To start with, the aguaje fruit is one the prime amazon natural products you can find out, and though it's presence up to date is not well known because of the lesser expansion of the cities in the amazon and their connection with major cities, it has been used by the natives for hundreds of years, it is really trascendental when compared on the market with other products. This fruit has nothing to envy to others.

In words of Alexander Von Humboldt, a very respected researcher and explorer, aguaje is "the tree of life" - that denomination he manifested more than 100 years ago, and his word has sense, because aguaje is one of the most important fruits in terms of ecology hierarchy. Here in Peru, we call it Aguaje, its scientific name is Mauritia Flexuosa. Our neighbours at Brasil call it Buriti, and it is also known as Moriché in Colombia and Venezuela.

People is everyday taking conciuousness of the real value of this fruit. Actually, in Lima, the capital, it is scarce and sold in minorist markets, because the people is just not fully aware of its benefits yet. Talking about its nutritional facts, it is a high source of A vitamin, same as a carrot; compared to spinach aguaje beats it with 5 to 1. Further studies have made it posible to incorporate the fruit into children's diet, including pregnant mothers (though, besides the scientific revision, this has been the way for hundreds of years with the native amazon people). It also is a good source of calcium, that is, a great aid for healthy teeth, and when consumed in a regular diet obviously it decreases the chances of suffering most calcium-related diseases.

The fruit is widely used in many forms. The amazon people, including my own family just love to have it pure, its pulp has a delicious taste, many like also to consume it as a beverage, a very refreshing one, they call it "aguajina", and people even make ice creams and jams out of it, just to mention some of the most common presentations you can litteraly find in the streets.

Aguaje consumption as demanded relays on 1,500 tons per month, that means 50 tons a day and just in the city of Iquitos. It is one of the capital fruits of the Peruvian Amazon Jungle, a noble, and particularly exquisite fruit.