Chongyang Jaboticaba

Chongyang Jaboticaba

　　Chongyang Jaboticaba is a specialty of Tiancheng Town, Chongyang County, Xianning City, Hubei Province. The fruit has transparent, soft, and juicy flesh, a unique flavor, fragrant aroma, and is sweet and delicious. Its taste is distinctive, reminiscent of multiple flavors including mangosteen, guava, custard apple, and pineapple. When eaten, it offers four different unique taste experiences in one bite.

　　Also known as jaboticaba, it is neither a grapevine nor a tree that grows grapes, but rather an evergreen large tree fruit that bears fruit all year round. It is called "tree grape" because its fruit closely resembles grapes. It can bloom four times a year and bear fruit four times, and is a nationally protected species.

　　The seedlings of jaboticaba mainly come from Taiwan. Its leaves, fruit, and peel can all be used medicinally and are effective in treating urinary diseases, gynecological conditions, high blood pressure, rheumatoid arthritis, and other ailments. This special fruit tree only begins to bear fruit when it is around 10 years old. One kilogram can be priced as high as over 200 yuan, and an adult tree can be sold for more than 100,000 yuan, yielding up to 30 kilograms of fruit. The fruit is generally not sold but is mainly used to produce high-quality wine.

　　In September 2009, Fujian Kunwang Food Co., Ltd. invested 300 million yuan to lease 10,000 acres of barren hills in Shiyi Village, Tiancheng Town, specifically to plant precious fruits such as jaboticaba, miracle fruit, roselle, and Zhongnanhai algae. The company aims to build an ecological park integrating sightseeing of premium orchards, leisure vacationing, eco-agriculture, and deep product processing. So far, the company has invested 8.9 million yuan and planted over 30,000 jaboticaba trees. Among them, there are 100 trees over five years old, 500 trees over three years old, tens of thousands of trees over two years old, and the rest are saplings. Once all the jaboticaba trees in the base bear fruit, the annual income is expected to reach 50 million yuan. It is reported that the total number of jaboticaba trees planted by Kunwang has now surpassed the previous planting scale of over 7,000 trees by a company in Guangdong, making it the largest jaboticaba plantation base in China.