Inga edulis, commonly known as the ice-cream bean tree, is a leguminous tree of the family Fabaceae. The genus name Inga derives from the Tupi word in-gá, meaning “soaked,” referring to the watery juice of its pods, while edulis comes from Latin, meaning “edible.” It is native to the Amazon Basin and widely distributed across tropical South America and Central America.

Historically, Inga edulis was cultivated by Indigenous peoples of the Amazon for its long pods filled with sweet, cottony pulp, eaten fresh as a fruit and shared in social and ceremonial contexts. It was also valued for its ability to enrich soils as a nitrogen-fixing tree, providing shade and mulch in agroforestry systems. In colonial and postcolonial times, the tree spread widely throughout tropical regions as both a food source and a shade tree for cacao and coffee plantations. In modern usage, the sweet pulp is still consumed fresh, often likened to vanilla ice cream in flavor, and is used in drinks, desserts, or simply sucked from the pod. The seeds, though usually discarded due to bitterness, are edible when cooked. The tree also plays an important ecological role in reforestation and sustainable agriculture.