It seems like food marketers are scouring the globe to find the most exotic fruits in order to make millions promoting them as "miracle superfruits".
Baobab fruit is but the latest to try to claim the title of the most super of the superfruits. Acai berries have probably been the most popular of the superfruits no small thanks to Oprah, who featured acai on her show a few years ago. However, will baobab fruit be able to capture some of acai's market share?
Baobab (pronounced bay-oh-bab) comes from the baobab tree (Adansonia digitata), which grows in hot, dry lowland areas of Africa. It's been long known in Africa as "The Tree of Life" because its parts have been used medicinally for centuries.
This tree can live 1000 to 3000 years and baobab seeds were even found in the Egyptian pyramids. The fruit is harvested in Southern Africa between February and May each year. The fruit is described as having both a tart and sweet taste.
Baobab has an antioxidant ORAC value of 650/gram which is almost 5 times more than acai berries. Per 20 grams of boabab there are; 10 grams of fiber24mg vitamin C64mg of calcium1.2mg of Iron430mg of potassium26.6mg of magnesium.04mg of sodium.06mg of FatA handy comparison chart can be found here (pdf) to see how boabab fruit compares to the other superfruits.
Baobab superfruit's nutrition looks pretty amazing, although the fruit itself doesn't look too appetizing.
I'm sure this fruit will have a lot of health benefits for those that consume it, but as we have learned from the acai berry, there will be dodgy marketers using baobab's amazing health claims to scam people.
If you wish to try baobab superfruit, make sure that you buy it from a trusted source and that you avoid the "try it for 60 days free" offers as these are usually too good to be true.
Source: Baobabfoods.com
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