It fails the test as protective clothing but an enthusiastic young farmhand's outlandish leaf skirt has helped him gain exposure for a little-known fruit and sell his perishable harvest through social media.

Key points: Jaboticaba fruit grows on tree trunks

Jaboticaba fruit grows on tree trunks It is native to South America

It is native to South America The fruit has a short shelf life

Jake Grogan works for a reclusive farmer who planted more than 200 jaboticaba trees around a decade ago in a secret location in the Sunshine Coast hinterland.

Nicknamed the 'Brazilian grape tree'— the exotic black South American fruit grows directly on the trunk and branches, has white flesh with a unique sweet flavour and tart tasting thin edible skin.

Jaboticaba fruit grow on the tree trunk. ( ABC Rural: Jennifer Nichols )

"It looks like there's something wrong with them, like an alien tree of sorts, covered in warts," Mr Grogan laughed.

"They really grow like nothing I've ever seen before."

Mr Grogan, 23, has been putting in the hard yards picking the organically grown berries and driving them to pick-up points for people wanting to buy them.

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The crop has been enthusiastically received by fans of the fruit which can be hard to source in Australia.

Jaboticaba berries gathered for sale through social media. ( ABC Rural: Jennifer Nichols )

"The Brazilian people that have contacted me since I made the post about the fruit told me that typically they would like to come and just pick straight from the tree and eat them because that's how they do it in their home country.

"They think that it is best eaten straight from the tree.

"You can make jams, preserves, eat them fresh, you can use them in meat dishes. I had a chef in town yesterday buy them yesterday because he wanted to do a duck dish with them."

Nursery Industry pioneer Peter Young says the jaboticaba is a slow-growing fruit. ( ABC Rural: Jennifer Nichols )

Great as a hedge

Former Birdwood nursery owner and industry innovator and mentor, Peter Young, said the jaboticaba fruit's lack of shelf life, tendency to bruise during transport — and the fact that trees can take 8 to 15 years to mature — have meant it has not been widely commercialised.

"It's great to take along to farmer's markets for people to consume within one or two days but you've really got to have a product that could last 7 to 14 days to go through the marketing system and through distribution centres if you wanted to make it a mainstream fruit," Mr Young said.

"It is fairly slow-growing but it's one of the prettiest trees you'll ever grow, it's got very fine leaves and makes a really lovely productive hedge."

Mr Young used to sell between 1,000-2,000 potted jaboticaba trees a year and believed they were coming back into fashion.

"By seed it used to take us about three years to produce a tree that was 200 millimetres high and that's why to buy one, unless they're small, they're quite expensive."

The organic jaboticaba orchard in the Sunshine Coast hinterland ( ABC Rural: Jennifer Nichols )

He said it was important to keep checking under the leaves or risk missing the hidden fruit.

El Arish Tropical Exotics owner Ann Cains recommends jaboticaba as a foraging tree in tropical gardens.

"They've got a great flavour and they're great for wine because there's a lot of tannin in the skin that really sort of has a real pop to it," Ms Cains said.

"Kids love it because they seem to be attracted to that tart sort of flavour."

Jake Grogan said his hardest job had been keeping the trees covered with nets to protect the crop from hungry birds.

Jake Grogan inspecting jaboticaba fruit in November, 2019. ( ABC Rural: Jennifer Nichols )

Planning ahead

Mr Grogan's ultimate goal is to make jaboticaba wine commercially.

This year a lack of rain reduced the size and amount of fruit on the trees, which in good conditions, can bear multiple times in a year.

"We can only try and keep up a certain amount of water to our trees here without using the creek too much or the bore water."

The orchard's ageing owner did not want to be identified but told ABC Rural he welcomed his farmhand's enthusiasm as he was close to giving up on this years' harvest.

"He's sort of almost ran his course with the hard yakka he can put in during the hot days in summer," Mr Grogan said.

Netted trees in the orchard. ( ABC Rural: Jennifer Nichols )

Saving the harvest

"I'm just trying to do my best to help him utilise all the hard work he has put in and put this crop to good use and get it out to the people of the Sunshine Coast.

"I don't want to see it go to waste."

Mr Grogan had always wanted to be a farmer but thought he had missed out when his grandparents made the tough decision to sell their avocado farm.

"It really tickles me pink being here and having this opportunity to do what I've always wanted to do," he said.

As for sometimes picking fruit in leaf skirts, Mr Grogan joked that it kept him cool.

"It's just something I knock up in the morning when I'm feeling like it — it's not like I have them in the cupboard — but there's no-one out here to pick on my white bum, so I get around and do what I do," he laughed.