Guaranà, or waraná in the indigenous language, means “the beginning of all knowledge”. It has been grown for hundreds of years in Brazilian Amazonia, in an area between the Rio Tapajós and the Rio Madeira, corresponding to the ancestral forests where the Mawé Indians lived in symbiosis with this plant.
It was classified in the 18th century by botanist Christian Franz Paullini as Paullinia cupana of the Sorbilis variety. In the heart of this vast area, a small region of 8000 square kilometers around the sources of the rivers Andirà and Marau is now the indigenous reserve which the native Indians consider sateré-mawé éco ga'apypiat waraná mimotypoot sése, or “ ecological and cultural sanctuary of the Waranà of the Sateré-Mawé”.
The Mawé do not actually cultivate waranà, it is more accurate to call it semi-domestication. The Mawé honor the Mothers of Waranà in the forest, wild lianas which can reach a height of 12 meters, and collect the seedlings growing from seeds which have fallen to the ground. They transplant them in forest clearings and grow them into bushes so they can be productive.
Waranà has white flowers in panicles and bunches of red fruit. Flowering occurs in the dry season, the fruit then splits, to reveal part of the seed and white flesh, which resembles a human eye. According to legend, the Mawé are descended from a murdered and resurrected child, whose eye, buried like a seed, grew into the first waranà plant.
If the fruit are intended to make traditional bread loaves, they are collected a little before they are ripe, the flesh is removed and the seeds washed in suitable containers.
The seeds are then roasted slowly in terracotta ovens, separated from the outer skin, pounded in a mortar, shaped into batons of various sizes (from 150 grams to more than 2 kilos), called waranà bread, and laid on suspended mats, where they are smoked with aromatic wood (mainly muruci). When eaten, the bread is grated with a basalt stone.
When the seed is dry and stripped of its outer skin, it contains an average of 3-4% caffeine and is rich in phosphorus, potassium, vitamins and tannin. The combined action of these ingredients combats fatigue and stimulates cognitive functions and memory.
The powder of ground seeds used in native rituals is dissolved in water or can be also diluted in fresh fruit juice. The extract is used to make syrups and drinks. Waranà is important in Mawé religion, where it has a symbolic role similar to that of wine in the Catholic liturgy.

The Presidium
The Presidium producers are organized in a consortium under the protection of the Conselho Geral da Tribo Sateré Mawé (CGTSM), a representative body for the Sateré-Mawé indigenous people (an ethnic group of about 10,000 people, distributed over about 80 villages). The objective of the Presidium is to protect authentic Sateré-Mawé waranà, produced in its designated area by the traditional discoverers of its benefits and inventors of the most appropriate methods for growing and transforming it. This not only means guaranteeing the survival of a species at risk of serious genetic impoverishment, but also the culture of a people, the “children of waranà”, which are both threatened by the pressure from multinationals.
Production rules have been established through a participative process. They will be distributed to all the producers and studied in the village schools. Efforts will be made to obtain recognition of origin at an international level. The Presidium intends to develop traditional waranà bread and syrup, promoting them to bartenders around the world.

Production area
Andirá Marau Indigenous Area, Amazonas-Pará, Norte

Presidium supported by
Veneto Regional Authority

With the patronage of
Brazilian Ministry of Agricultural Development