Amarula Facts

 ABOUT THE MARULA

The exotic marula fruit is found only on the sub-Saharan plains of Africa, where it grows in the wild for just a few weeks of the year. Not just totally delicious, it's also rich in vitamin C, potassium,
calcium and magnesium, as well as protein.
Archaeological evidence of marula fruit can apparently be dated back as far as 10 000 BC with traces of marula kernels found in the ancient Pomongwe Cave of Zimbabwe.

Today marula trees grow abundantly in the wild and are found in many parts of South Africa, including the famous game reserve, Kruger National Park. They are also plentiful in Botswana, Swaziland, Namibia and Zimbabwe.

The trees support an extensive ecosystem. Their cooling canopies provide habitats for a range of plants and grasses, while the fruit is eaten by elephants, rhino, warthog, kudu, baboons, vervet monkeys, zebra, porcupine and even millipedes. Their leaves are also eaten by a range of browsers, including domestic cattle. 

 MAKING OF THE LEGEND

The Marula Tree (Sclerocarya birrea), sometimes called the Elephant Tree, is an African botanical treasure steeped in culture, romance and legend. It grows only in sub-equatorial Africa and can be found nowhere else.

The size of small plums but oval in shape, they are like no other fruit. Although they resemble loquats, their skins are a lighter shade of golden-yellow. Their white flesh is more like a litchi in texture but not as dense. Succulent, with a citrus tang and a creamy, nutty taste, they are loved by everyone who knows them.

Amarula has captured the heart of the marula's uniquely exotic aromas and flavours by first fermenting the hand-harvested fruit to create a wine that is double-distilled into a clear spirit, aged in oak for 24 months. Wood spice characters of vanilla and toast are naturally imparted. Another important ingredient is fresh dairy cream. It gives Amarula its rich and velvety smooth consistency.

Available in more than 100 countries across the world, Amarula is known as the Spirit of Africa.

HARVESTING

Harvesting of the deliciously fragrant and exotic fruit, ripened under the African sun, happens at the height of the African summer, from mid-January to mid-March.

Many of the wild-growing trees, indigenous to sub-Saharan Africa, are found in the sub-tropical region of Phalaborwa in Limpopo Province.

When the fruit falls to the ground, heavy with flavour and goodness, it is collected by the women of the local rural communities before being delivered to the Amarula production plant in Phalaborwa.

"When the sun is ready, it lets the fruit ripen to a sweetly delicious and exotic concentration of flavour."