I sure hope someone here can resolve this for me. It has been driving me crazy for close to a year now. I moved into a new house and there was a tree that I could not identify. At first we just cut it down but it grew back really fast so I decided to leave it to see what it turns into. It turns out that it makes a fruit, but I am STILL clueless! I have spent days and days on the internet and I find things that are close but nothing that is right. I sure hope someone here can help. I appreciate it so much. I took a picture of the fruit on the tree, then I plucked it and cut it in half horizontally. It has 3 larger chambers that each has a round hard nut like seed. The seed it dark red in color and about the size of a cherry. The fruit has a nutty smell and not a sweet fruit smell but it could be under ripe I guess. I am at a loss, can anyone here help me....
I want to thank you very much. I looked that up and that is exactly what it is. It is also very toxic from what I have read which does worry me since I have dogs who love to eat the citrus fruit from the yard they would not think twice about picking these up to eat. I will be having this tree removed immediatly. Thank you again! Great help. Jennifer
"Ackee (Blighia sapida) is the national fruit of Jamaica, and ackee and saltfish is the national dish." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ackee
It is toxic for people, all parts except the ripe fruit arils. Both under-ripe and over-ripe fruit, and the outer shell of ripe fruit, are also toxic; one has to be very careful about eating the fruit. Whether it is toxic for dogs or not I don't know, they can eat a lot of things that people can't, and vice-versa.
The fruit can be highly toxic and after research on jamacian sites it is not even a good idea to let pets eat the cooked fruit. Having smaller kids and the dogs there is no reason to keep this tree in my yard. I prefer fruit I can pick and eat with no worries. After reading about the symptoms of poisoning from these fruits, including death, if the wrong part is eaten or not properly cooked it really would take someone with a lot of knowledge to want to deal with it. Beautiful tree, but not worth the risks imho. http://www.getjamaica.com/About Jamaican Ackee.asp < Good article that explains about it and mentioned the toxicity to animals.
I thought it was a good article too until I got to the bit about it being a source of cholesterol, which is an animal substance. It was interesting though.
Not impossible; it doesn't say how much there is. From the wikipedia Cholesterol article: There is also the possibility that "Jamaican ackee, canned, drained" might contain animal-origin ingredients as minor additives.
