Ice Cream Bean

Overview

Ice cream bean grows quickly into a spreading shade tree. Its long pods hold seeds wrapped in sweet, white, cottony pulp that tastes a little like vanilla ice cream. It fixes nitrogen and responds well to pruning, so it is used as a shade and mulch tree for crops like cacao.

History

Ice cream bean is native to South and Central America, where it has long been planted to shade coffee and cacao.

Growing on Kauaʻi

• Best in warm, wet to moderate lowland areas.
• Grows in poor soil; needs reasonable drainage.
• Keep it well away from native forest areas.

Planting and propagation

• Plant seeds fresh, straight from the pod; they often sprout inside the pod and don’t store.
• Seedlings grow fast; plant them out young.

Care and maintenance

• Prune or pollard regularly to keep it low and to produce mulch.
• Collect fallen pods so seeds don’t spread.

Role in the guild

Use it as a nurse and shade tree for cacao, coffee, or vanilla, cutting it back for mulch.

Harvest

Pick pods when they are full and just starting to change color. Split them open and eat the pulp around the seeds.

Uses

• Food: sweet pulp eaten fresh. The seeds are not eaten raw.
• Soil: nitrogen and prunings for mulch.
• Shade: for understory crops.

Problems to watch

• Fruit flies in fallen pods.
• Spreading seedlings if pods are left on the ground.

Learn more

• Plant Pono

General guidance for Kauaʻi; conditions vary by site. Check any new plant at plantpono.org before planting.