Wholesale Guarana

01.
A Bit of Botany

a little botanical information about guarana

description
Guarana is a climbing plant in the Sapindaceae family. It has divided compound leaves, flowers yellow panicles, fruit pear shaped, three sided, three-celled capsules, with thin partitions, in each a seed like a small horse-chestnut half enclosed in an aril, flesh colored and easily separated when dried. It often grows to 12 m high.

The fruit is small, round, bright-red in color, and grows in clusters. As it ripens, the fruit splits and a black seed emerges—giving it an "eye"-like appearance. Its seeds contain about twice the concentration of caffeine found in coffee beans.

common names & nomenclature
The name of its genus is from C. F. Paullini, a German medical botanist who died 1712. The word guarana comes from the Guaraní word guara-ná, which has its origins in the Sateré-Maué word for the plant, warana, in Tupi-Guarani it means "fruit like the eyes of the people" likely in reference of how the fruit splits open and resembles an eye.

Also known as:
paullinia, guarana bread, brazilian cocoa, uabano, uaranzeiro. paullinia sorbilis, guarana kletterstrauch, guaranastruik, quarana, quarane, cupana

02.
Where in the World

habitat and range for guarana

Guarana is native to the Amazon basin and especially common in Brazil.

03.
Cultivation & Harvesting

considerations for growing and harvesting guarana

climate
The genus Paullinia is predominantly neotropical, growing in rainforests of the Amazon.

soil
Soils must be deep, medium or heavy in texture, well drained and with high organic matter content.

growing
Traditional planting is by sowing seeds. Modern propagation techniques include cuttings, for which misting chambers, grafts and tissue culture propagation are used.

harvesting
The seeds are harvested after the fruit splits open; they are then shelled and washed. Guarana seeds are dried whole at this point (or dried whole then ground) or they can be processed further into guarana “bread” or “sticks”.

To make the guarana bread the seeds are washed and then they are roasted for six hours, afterwards they are put into sacks and shaken till their outside shell comes off. They are then pounded into a fine powder and made into a dough with water, and rolled into cylindrical pieces 8 inches long; these are then dried in the sun or over a slow fire, till they became very hard and are then a rough and reddish-brown color. The guarana bread or sticks would then be grated and then immersed into hot water along with other ingredients as desired.

preserving
Store dried guarana whole seeds or powdered guarana seeds in an airtight container in a cool, dry place.

04.
The Rest of the Story

guarana history, folklore, literature & more