Barbados cherry

Description

Barbados cherries are botanically classified as Mapighia glabra within the Malpighiaceae family. These fruits are also known as Acerola, West Indian cherry, Cereza, Cerisier, Antilles cherry, and Semeruco. The Barbados cherry grew in popularity when it was found that even just one of the ripe cherries has the potential to contain a full daily allotment of Vitamin C. Even more interesting is that a green or under-ripe fruit is said to contain twice the levels of Vitamin C as fully ripe fruit. Historically, the increase in plantings of the Acerola tree have been in response to a demand for a natural source of Vitamin C for nutritional supplements.