Some claim that the fruit of the NONI resembles a large “bumpy” potato. In fact, its embossed appearance is created by the flowers of the NONI when they develop into small alveoli that cling to one another and form small uneven bunches to create the fruit as we know it.
THREE STAGES OF MATURITY
The fruit of the NONI undergoes three stages of maturity:
1. The green stage when the fruit is as hard as a stone (A local anecdote relates that the green NONI were often used as projectiles by the ancient Tahitians when they attacked their adversaries during the tribal wars of yesteryear).
2. The yellow stage (mid maturity) when the fruit is still firm,
3. The final “white or gray” stage of maturity, when the fruit is very soft and difficult to harvest because it is full of juice and can easily be crushed.
NONI juice has always held a special place in the traditional medicine of Tahiti but it has only been sold around the world since 1995; at first in the USA, then in Asia and only recently in Europe because it is the subject of a mandatory “novel food” authorization for its sale.
Commonly used in the local pharmacopoeia of Tahiti, NONI juice is actually an effective and very powerful “medicinal remedy”. However international legislation currently in force prevents it being presented under its true identity. At the moment, NONI juice is therefore marketed worldwide as a “food complement or dietary supplement” with an appropriate labeling.
TAHITI A VERITABLE PARADISE FOR THE NONI
Tahiti is set in a unique jewel-like environment rightly qualified by certain as “paradise on earth” where an abundant variety of Flora and Botanica thrive: succulent fruits sweetened to perfection, flowers with dazzling colors and intoxicating scents and astonishing natural medicinal plants such as the NONI fruit which has forged an international reputation based on its amazing medicinal properties.
It is essential factors and a natural ecological wealth such as near-perfect, year-round climate with an ideal temperature that hardly varies between 25°/27°; Heavy moisture cycles brought by the short but effective rainy seasons; Rich, fertile volcanic soil packed with mineral and nutriments gathered from the spores of the coral atolls; And the ongoing decomposition of a luxuriant flora into organic fertilizer, that are the real set-up for this extraordinary abundance and ideal environment.
