Jiló

is a tropical vegetable and belongs to the family of Solanaceae which counts of around 2000 different species, among others potato and tomato. The plant (jiloeiro) probably came to Brazil with African slaves.

The fruit has a thin green skin and its taste is extremely bitter,- but nevertheless popular in the Brazilian culinaria, for helping with digestion.

Jiló can be consumed uncooked (add slices to a salad), cooked and fried. When cooked as a whole, it looses the bitter taste.

The fruit is rich of flavonoids, lavonoids, alkaloids and steorids which help reducing the level of bad colesterol. It consists of more than 90% of water, has few calories and is therefore recommended for diets.

Jiló is also rich of vitamines A, C, B complex and phosphor, calcium and iron.

The cultivation of jiló requires sandy wet earth and a warm climate (around 26 – 28°). The plant reaches a height of up to 1 ½ meters.

Harvest starts 90 – 100 days after sowing and the fruits are harvested, transported and commercialized while still being immature.