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<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nThe University of Florida\u2019s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences said the cherries are rich sources of vitamin C, carotenoids, anthocyanins, and phenolic compounds with antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThese nutritional benefits have elevated acerola to superfood status, making it marketable for fresh consumption, desserts, supplements, or juice,\u201d said Felipe Ferrao, who\u2019s leading the project for UF\/IFAS. \u201cThey can contain up to 100 times more vitamin C than oranges, making them a powerful candidate for enhancing and supplementing our diet.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scientists are trying to grow the fruit in three major field trials in Florida: at the UF\/IFAS Plant Science Research and Education Center in Citra, at a farm in Pierson and at the UF\/IFAS Tropical Research and Education Center (TREC) in Homestead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The report from UF said researchers want to find out if the fruit will perform well under varying climates, soil types, and management systems across Florida.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOur central goal is to determine the best regions and practices for growing acerola, while understanding how climate conditions influence fruit quality and nutritional value,\u201d Ferrao said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Researchers said the cherries could potentially help mitigate the ongoing crisis in citrus production and become an alternative crop for producers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe envision acerola as a viable crop for the agricultural future, contributing to economic growth and food security,\u201d Ferrao said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A \u201csuperfruit\u201d that thrives in the Caribbean, South and Central America, and is valued for its health benefits, could be Florida\u2019s newest crop. Researchers at the University of Florida are collaborating with… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":60582,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"14","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":true,"token":"eyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvaTAud3AuY29tXC9sYWtlbGFuZGdhemV0dGUuaW5mb1wvbmV3c1wvd3AtY29udGVudFwvdXBsb2Fkc1wvMjAyNlwvMDFcL0dldHR5SW1hZ2VzLTE1NjY0MTQ5Mzgud2VicD9maXQ9NTQwJTJDNzIwJnNzbD0xIiwidHh0IjoiVGhpcyBcdTIwMThzdXBlcmZydWl0XHUyMDE5IGNvdWxkIGJlIEZsb3JpZGFcdTIwMTlzIG5ld2VzdCBjcm9wIGNvbnRhaW5zIHVwIHRvIDEwMCB0aW1lcyBtb3JlIHZpdGFtaW4gQyB0aGFuIG9yYW5nZXMiLCJ0ZW1wbGF0ZSI6ImhpZ2h3YXkiLCJmb250IjoiIiwiYmxvZ19pZCI6MTYzMDQwNjYxfQ.gepxiljZ9aOpfnOpjq56NaIJEMGJO1rB1q8EOZL_UhgMQ"},"version":2,"attached_media":[{"id":60582,"url":"http:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/GettyImages-1566414938.webp","type":"image\/webp"}]},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[14],"tags":[13075],"class_list":["post-60581","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-this-superfruit-could-be-floridas-newest-crop-contains-up-to-100-times-more-vitamin-c-than-oranges"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60581","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60581"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60581\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":60584,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60581\/revisions\/60584"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60582"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60581"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60581"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60581"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}