Brosimum alicastrum

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iMaya nut

Scientific classification

Kingdom:	Plantae
Division:	Magnoliophyta
Class:	Magnoliopsida
Order:	Rosales
Family:	Moraceae
Genus:	Brosimum
Species:	B. alicastrum

Binomial name

Brosimum alicastrum

Brosimum alicastrum or breadnut, also called the Maya nut, ramon, ojoche, ojite, ojushte, ujushte, ujuxte, capomo, mojo, ox or masica, is a tree in the Moraceae or fig family. It was planted by the Maya civilization two thousand years ago and it was among their staple foods. Since that time it has been neglected and has often been characterised as a famine food.

Erika Vohman of The Equilibrium Fund has been promoting its use in Central America and is campaigning to save the rainforests where Maya Nut grows. For this work Vohman won the 2006 St Andrews Prize for the Environment worth $50,000. She has been working with rural and indigenous women teaching them to use Maya Nut to improve tropical rainforest conservation, reforestation, health and nutrition, food security, Women’s incomes, self-esteem and status, maternal health and infant birth weights. Since 2001 The Equilibrium Fund has trained over 3000 women from 100 villages in Honduras, Nicaragua, Guatemala, El Salvador and Mexico. The St. Andrews Prize money is earmarked for expansion of the Maya Nut program to new regions in these countries.

Maya Nut is extremely high in fiber, calcium, potassium, folic acid, iron, zinc, protein and vitamins A, E, C and B. The fresh seeds can be cooked and eaten or can be set out to dry in the sun to roast and eat later. Stewed the nut tastes like mashed potato, roasted it tastes like chocolate or coffee and can be prepared in numerous other dishes.

The tree can reach up to 45 meters (130 feet).