It tastes like coffee, but:

• No caffeine!
• Contains a complete protein!
• Good for you
• Tastes great
• Saves rainforest
• Creates Third World income

A miracle food

KA·PO·MO comes from the fruit of a rainforest-edge tree in the mulberry family, Brosimum alicastrum, also known as KA·PO·MO, ramon, breadnut and, by the ancient Mayans, ixemche. B. alicastrum grows in the coastal regions of Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean. The fruit surrounds a single seed 1/2 inch in diameter. When dried, roasted and ground, this seed makes a delicious brew that tastes like high-quality coffee.

Unlike coffee, however, KA·PO·MO is one of the most nutritious foods on our hungry planet. Its protein content ranges from 11.4% to 13.4%, with healthy percentages of all nine "essential" amino acids (i.e., the nine that our bodies cannot manufacture and we must intake from outside). This makes it one of the few complete-protein foods in the world. KA·PO·MO is also a source of Vitamin C; the B-vitamins thiamine, riboflavin and niacin; and the minerals calcium, phosphorous and iron.

Here is a complete nutritional analysis for 10 grams:

The nut is most commonly dried, roasted and ground and consumed as a beverage, hot or iced. KA·PO·MO can also be added as a condiment to everything from salads to ice cream. Try KA·PO·MO in smoothies or with soy, rice or almond milk in shakes!

Preparation

A simple, economical way to prepare KA·PO·MO is to put 1 1/2 teaspoons into a coffee filter or tea strainer and pour hot water through it. If you like strong coffee, let it steep for 10-30 seconds; otherwise remove it immediately. You can make a second cup by adding 1/2 teaspoon more. You can even get a third and fourth cup by adding another 1/2 teaspoonful for each cup. Let the third and fourth cups steep for 20 to 30 seconds.

You can also simply place the KA·PO·MO into a cup and add hot water - instant coffee! Stir vigorously; you will still get a few crunchy solids in your drink.

Save the residue (or the grounds from the filter or strainer) and add them to other foods for a nutty, crunchy taste.

Your KA·PO·MO has been mixed with a dash of canela (cinnamon). Try adding more, or adding chocolate or vanilla, to find the taste that pleases you most.

Other ways to Eat KA·PO·MO

Ground more finely, KA·PO·MO makes the world's most nutritious flour. Mixed with grains this flour makes delicious bread, cakes and other baked goods. The Mayans blended it with corn to make tortillas.

KA·PO·MO nuts can also be eaten without grinding: boiled, they taste like potatoes. The Mayans ate them raw, mixed them with honey as a dessert and stored them underground for year-round consumption. They planted the trees along their trails so travelers would not go hungry. Apparently they even hybridized them, as trees near their cities yield not one but two crops annually.

KA·PO·MO's outer fruit is also edible, and can be made into jam or jelly. The ancients fermented it and made Mayan moonshine. The sap is a superior lactose-free milk substitute. Even the leaves can be eaten.

Health Claims

KA·PO·MO is said to relieve allergy symptoms, to act as a liver tonic and to relax the nervous system. The people native to its range make a tonic from the bark to relieve asthma and chest pains. They also drink the sap to calm upset stomach and indigestion, and a Venezuelan pharmacy is studying the reputed ability of the sap to stimulate lactation in nursing mothers.

None of these claims are documented, and we make no health claims for KA·PO·MO.

If you experiment with it for allergies or to calm your nerves, we would like to hear the results, whether positive or negative.

A Miracle Tree

KA·PO·MO is as nutritious for livestock as it is for humans. Chicken feed supplemented with B. alicastrum leaves and twigs produces healthier poultry at less cost. Cattle also gain weight when placed on a kapomo diet, and dairy cows yield 1 to 2 liters more milk per day.

KA·PO·MO also produces a handsome semi-hard wood, blonde on the outside and reddening toward the heart, which is both durable and workable. It turns well, screws well  and polishes and finishes well. Cabinets, floors, tables, handles and even guitars are commonly made from KA·PO·MO wood. Recently KA·PO·MO has been discovered by the makers of luxury furniture.

Brosimum alicastrum seems to be as valuable a plant as bamboo or hemp. One Mayan forester calls it "the most useful tree in the world."

KA·PO·MO and the World Environmental Crisis

Perhaps KA·PO·MO's most exciting feature is its potential for ending rainforest destruction. In recent years many of us with environmental consciousness have switched our primary protein source from beef to soybeans. But soya plantations destroy the tropical soil as quickly and thoroughly as cattle. KA·PO·MO is a gift from God that human ingenuity (or ingenuousness) has yet to match. Let's switch again, from soy to KA·PO·MO, and save the rainforests! KA·PO·MO offers protein-rich food in comparable amounts per acre to soy or beef, and it requires preserving the trees and soil rather than denuding them in a few short seasons. This great productivity, as well as the ease of harvesting it (simply gather the seeds, like acorns, off the ground, or lay tarps), make it a far superior harvest to cattle or soy.

We hope that replacing beef and soya with KA·PO·MO will become part of a more all-encompassing global move away from grain crops such as wheat, oats and rye toward silviculture (tree crops). With our present annual grass-based agribusiness, the world is losing 25-30 billion tons of soil to erosion every year, using up 1 1/2 billion years' worth of soil formation in a few centuries.

KA·PO·MO and the Human Crisis

Erosion, deforestation and pollution have damaged more than 60% of Mexico's water basins. These degraded conditions cause ever more desperate peasants to head for the U.S. Your purchase of KA·PO·MO helps end this trend of forced migration by creating local income opportunities and keeping people & communities intact, as well as the jungle they live in and draw sustenance from. The KA·PO·MO you have bought is gathered and prepared by a collectivo in the village of Yelapa, Mexico. We pay them well - about double the Fair Trade minimum - and also split the net profits with them. We are also committed to buying KA·PO·MO-bearing jungle lands and preserving them.

KA·PO·MO vs. Coffee

What do we mean by Fair Trade wages? Coffee is the second largest item in the world economy, behind only oil. The giant coffee plantations and exporters destroy wildlife habitat and pay subhuman wages. The Fair Trade movement was founded to stop this exploitation. For a coffee to receive the Fair Trade label, its laborers must receive at least $1.25/hour. Unfortunately, less than 1% of coffee sold receives theFair Trade label. And the Fair Trade movement does not address the environmental dangers of growing coffee. Some coffees are shade-grown, which is a little better than the standard plantations, which are stripped of all other plant life.

Healthwise, the caffeine in coffee is a huge social problem. It's been linked to infertility,  chromosome damage, osteoporosis, birth defects and heart problems. Coffee is a suspect in PMS and breast lumps, and, as everyone knows, it prevents sleep (and it interferes with REM). The worst thing about caffeine is that it's addictive. If you are drinking KA·PO·MO to kick a coffee habit, you may want to mix it with coffee to start, and gradually phase out the coffee.

*****************

For a more detailed study of KA·PO·MO's benefits, see "Chapter V: Hybridizing Indigenous and Modern Knowledge Systems: The Potential for Sustainable Development through Increased Trade in Neo-Traditional Agroforestry Products," by UCLA Ph.D. candidate T.H. Culhane
(http://naid.sppsr.ucla.edu/confs&class/class/UP/comp00/ch5_report.pdf).
Most of the claims made here are documented in Culhane's 84-page paper.

How, you ask, can we be so environmentally conscious and yet package KA·PO·MO in poly baggies?

Our research to date indicates that cellulose and other biodegradable bags require enough extra energy to manufacture to offset their quicker decomposition rates. If you have more information about this, we'd like to hear from you.

You can order KA·PO·MO here.

If you have any questions, eMail Don

[Home]   [Order]   [Contact]