What is achacha and why do we have such a large plantation in Australia? 🍊 | ABC Australia

In the depths of the Amazon Basin, the achachairú, a highly prized tropical fruit, has been cultivated for generations.

But the fruit is grown on the greatest scale not in its homeland of Bolivia, but on the other side of the world — in North Queensland.

Bruce and Helen Hills's achacha plantation in Giru, south of Townsville, is home to more than 15,000 trees.

It's one of the world's largest commercial plantations of the exotic fruit that the Hills decided to grow after realising North Queensland and the Amazon Basin had a similar climate.

"This is the very first commercial achacha plantation in the world,” Ms Hill says.

“In the Amazon Basin they grow them in very small amounts, maybe just three or four trees in their backyard."

The fruit, which Ms Hill says to pronounce like the dance "cha cha" with an "a" in front, has been a labour of love for the couple.

"I'm sure there are some people that have it in their backyards but once people find out it takes seven or eight years to get fruit, they lose interest," she says.

"We were stupid enough to do it, we waited, and so we're the biggest grower in the world."

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