Two and a half years ago I bought an ice cream bean from the Whole Foods Market on Maui for a ridiculously high price ($9.99/lb) After enjoying this delicious fruit which tastes like vanilla ice cream with a texture similar to cotton candy, I planted the seeds in hopes to one day be able to casually graze on this fruit in the yard for free.
Inga edulis, the Ice Cream Bean tree is native to South America. In addition to being a tasty food item this tree provides shade. It is a great addition to your tropical garden. Shade loving crops such as coffee grow well under this tree.
Ice Cream beans are easy to eat too. Just tear the tough outer skin open, give the entire bean a twist and it should open up for you. Inside you will find what looks like a row of white cotton balls. There is a large black seed in the middle of the cottony part. Plant the seed and eat the sweet white cottony fruit. I hear the the seeds can be roasted and eaten but I would only start roasting seeds when there is more than enough fruit to go around. I have never roasted them so that’s all I can say about that.
If you look closely at my picture of the seeds you will see the will to live is very strong for this tree. The seeds are sprouting inside the fruit. This won’t always be the case but this time it is. Before you are done reading this these seeds will already be in soil and reaching for the sun. Soon these seeds will be their very own trees providing their very own fruit…
Plants want to live, let them live!!!
The large pods in my left hand were bought this morning at the Upcountry Farmers Market here on Maui in Pukalani. The pods in my right hand, those three are still attached to the tree and have some growing to do.
Planting a seed takes very little effort and the results make a huge difference a difference between life and death. If I would have thrown the seeds in the garbage that would have been the end of the story. Instead here we are today admiring this gorgeous tree.
One of the pods had 14 seeds that were already sprouted. Maui will gain at least 14 new ice cream bean trees today!
This tree is thankful to be alive, thankful that I believed in a seed. This tree is so thankful to be a tree that in just 30 short months she is already starting to provide more of this unique and tasty fruit and even more seeds. I have given this tree only love, mother nature provided water, air and sunshine. She has been grown organically without any sort of store bought fertilizers.
If you want to feed the world the answer is in planting seeds. Just planting the seeds instead of throwing them away you can be part of the solution.
Products mentioned or used in my ice cream bean blog post: