Ice Cream Bean (Inga edulis)

Family: Fabaceae | Edibility: Choice Edible (4/5)

Inga edulis or commonly known as Ice Cream Bean is a fast-growing fruit tree native to South America. It grows up to 30 m tall and 60 cm in trunk diameter. It is an evergreen and forms a broad, spreading canopy. The leaves are compound with 4-6 pairs of leaflets. The flowers re near the ends of branches. It is popular in South America for its edible fruits. The long pod fruits have sweet flavor, white, translucent, jelly-like pulp.

Edible Parts & Harvest Seasons

Edible Parts: Nuts/Seeds

Harvest Seasons: Early Summer, Fall, Late Summer

Flavor & Culinary Uses

sweet, perfumed flavour. — The pulp surrounding the seeds in the seedpod is white, translucent and jelly-like with a sweet, perfumed flavour.; Much esteemed in Ecuador, some forms have a slight cinnamon flavour.; The seedpod is up to 100cm long.; The seedpod can vary considerably in size and in the quantity of pulp it contains.

Habitat & North American Range

Forests on the riverine flood plains. Moist, wet, or sometimes rather dry forest, or in open places at elevations below 1,500 metres. Thickets and wooded swamps at elevations of 110 - 540 metres in Peru. (Zone 9)