Red bright and a sweet delight. Cherries and Christmas time for some reason are a pairing, but right up north we certainly don’t grow the more widely known cherries (Prunus cerasus) originally from Europe.

We do have our own tropical cherries we can grow. These ones are Brazilian cherries or Eugenia uniflora, known as Pitanga in Brazil, which are in the Mytaceae family. This time last year I was in Brazil where I enjoyed these in their native country and today I ate one the first fruits from the tree in our front garden minature “food forest” I planted it a few years and am sooo excited that I ate a first fruit. The solo fruit is pictured here in pirate hand and I am happy to say there are more forming. These have a unique almost curried flavour and if you have more than one of them you can make delicious drinks from them.

These guys are really high in Vitamin A and C and small amounts of B2 and magnesium. There are actually Australian edible Eugenia species, including the “Bay Cedar Cherry” in Queensland. I am trialling one of these in my garden too, but it just a baby plant.
Make it a Top End Merry Monsoon and plant one of these, which fruit at this time of year and into the wet season; they love part sun or a sunny spot and some water, but seem quite hardy really, they are a small to large shrub with a nice weeping form. To buy some check out Rapid Creek markets where I have seen them occasionally sold at this time of year.