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• Portuguese traders brought this fruit to India from Peru in South America in the 16th century.
• Local people started calling it 'Peru' directly from the name of the country as a fruit from the country 'Peru'.
• This fruit, 'guava' in English and 'guava' in Hindi, has been forever ingrained in Marathi culture and language.

Greenish, sweet-sour and a taste that lingers on the tongue when eaten with a dusting of salt… our all-time favorite guava! Why would what is called 'guava' in English and 'guava' in Hindi, be named after a country in Marathi? What is the relationship between the country 'Peru' in South America and the fruit 'Peru' in Marathi? Behind this lies a very interesting historical journey.

Guava, like many fruits, is not native to India. This fruit is native to Central and South America. In the 16th century, when Portuguese sailors and traders traveled around the world by sea, they reached South America. They found this juicy fruit in the region around the country 'Peru'.

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When the Portuguese set foot in India (especially the port of Goa) for trade, they brought this fruit to India along with potatoes, tomatoes and pineapples. When the local Marathi and Indian people asked the Portuguese traders, “Where did you bring this fruit from?” Then the merchants said, “From the country of Peru!”

In the minds of the local people, the identity of 'fruit from Peru' was fixed. Gradually forgetting the original name of the fruit, people started calling the fruit 'Guava'. Thus the name of a distant country became the name of a popular fruit in the households of Maharashtra.

As such, the fruit was called 'Guayaba' in the local tribal language, from which the English word 'Guava' was derived. In Portuguese it is called 'Goyaba'. But the Marathi people gave the name 'Peru' to this fruit, respecting its original place of origin, i.e. the country of 'Peru'.

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Today guava is grown in large quantities in Maharashtra and across India. But whenever we eat this fruit, we unknowingly remind ourselves of a country in South America, it's really a beautiful feature of Marathi language and its rich history, isn't it!