How to Grow Ice-cream Beans USA

By the SoilCommander Editorial Team, under the guidance of Nitin Sharma, Co-Founder · · How we check our facts

On this page
  1. Ice-cream Bean (Inga edulis)
  2. Quick Facts
  3. Soil & Growing Conditions
  4. Harvest & Storage
  5. Ice-cream bean through the season
  6. Plan your Ice-cream Beans planting
  7. What the research guides add
  8. Ice-cream bean in the USA: climate data
  9. Growing Ice-cream Bean in another region
  10. Sources
  11. Frequently Asked Questions

Ice-cream beans (Inga edulis) — Evergreen tropical tree, fruiting from about two years old.

Ice-cream Bean (Inga edulis)

An opened ice-cream bean pod showing the white cottony pulp around the seeds. Photo: Burkhard Mücke, CC BY-SA 4.0

Also known as: Pacay · 2 sources cited

Quick Facts

A hand holding a long green ice-cream bean pod — “Vaina de Jinicuil” by Koffer is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
“Vaina de Jinicuil” by Koffer is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
Factor Value
Soil pH 5 - 6.5
Soil texture Tolerates a wide range of soils
Drainage Well-drained
Lifecycle Evergreen tropical tree, fruiting from about two years old.

Soil & Growing Conditions

A mature ice-cream bean tree with a broad spreading crown — “Inga edulis 04” by Burkhard Mücke is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
“Inga edulis 04” by Burkhard Mücke is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Water: High; prefers 1200-2500 mm mean annual rainfall

Soil pH range

5 6.5

Span reflects genuine variation between the cited authorities, not a single agreed figure.

Harvest & Storage

A single ribbed ice-cream bean pod hanging on the tree — “Inga edulis 08” by Burkhard Mücke is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
“Inga edulis 08” by Burkhard Mücke is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

When to pick: Seedling trees can begin fruiting at only two years old. The pods reach up to 100 cm; it is the white, translucent, jelly-like pulp around the seeds that is eaten.

Plan your Ice-cream Beans planting

When to sow and plant Ice-cream Beans depends on your own frost dates. Check the USA vegetable planting calendar. To work out where it fits in your beds, sketch your plot in the free Garden Layout Planner.

What the research guides add

An ice-cream bean pod opened to show the white pulp around the seeds
An ice-cream bean pod opened to show the white pulp around the seeds. Photo by Hellen Perrone, public domain.

Despite the name this is a large tropical tree, not a bean plant, and the fact sheet below sets the climate it comes from.

  • A medium to large tree that grows naturally in regions with an average temperature of 20°C and will stand temperatures near freezing when mature. (Food Plants International)
  • It can grow in very acid soils with a pH of 4 and with high aluminium; rainfall in its range is 1,000 to 5,000 mm per year. (Food Plants International)
  • Plants are grown from seed. Fresh seeds have a high germination; remove the pulp around the seed and plant it 2 cm deep. (Food Plants International)
  • Trees can start producing in 3 years, and the pods are split open and the pulp around the seeds eaten. (Food Plants International)

Ice-cream bean in the USA: climate data

City USDA zone Last spring freeze (32°F) First fall freeze (32°F) Freeze-free days
Bismarck, ND 4a 14 May 27 Sep 136
Madison, WI 5b 1 May 10 Oct 160
Milwaukee, WI 6a 19 Apr 29 Oct 192
Atlanta, GA 8a 15 Mar 20 Nov 252
Orlando, FL 10a 25 Jan winter freezes only 355
San Diego, CA 11a none in a median year none in a median year 365

Dates are the median 32°F freeze dates and freeze-free days from NOAA NCEI U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020; zones come from the USDA 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map (ZIP code of each city centre).

Sources for this section

Section researched and checked on 25 October 2026 by the SoilCommander Editorial Team. How we check facts: editorial policy.

Last verified 2026-10-25

Growing Ice-cream Bean in another region

Sowing dates, frost timing and local advice differ by country. Use the guide for where you garden.

Sources

The full list of 2 sources behind this guide (Useful Tropical Plants (tropical.theferns.info), World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF)) is in the references of our UK guide to ice-cream beans; they describe the plant itself, which is the same wherever it grows.

Frequently Asked Questions

What soil pH do ice-cream beans need?

A pH of about 5–6.5. That span reflects genuine variation between the authorities we cite rather than a single agreed figure — the References section lists each source's exact range.

Plan next season before the problems start

Almost everything on this page resolves to your own frost dates rather than the calendar — the last spring frost moves by roughly two months between zone 3 and zone 10. The USA Garden Planner works from your zone so the timing is already decided before the season starts.

Get the USA Garden Planner →

Instant PDF download · Written for US growing conditions

SoilCommander Editorial Team — under the guidance of Nitin Sharma, Co-Founder

Every growing guide is checked against RHS, USDA Cooperative Extension, and other named horticultural authorities before publishing. How we check our facts.

How this guide is put together

The growing data on this page — sowing windows, pests, diseases, soil and site requirements — comes from named horticultural sources, listed in References below, checked against USDA hardiness-zone and frost-date data, with Cooperative Extension sources cited directly where one exists for a crop. An automated pipeline assembles that verified data into the page you're reading: it selects which facts to lead with and builds the surrounding prose and layout. It does not invent a date, a source or a number — where a verified value for a field isn't available, the page leaves it out rather than guessing. A person reviews and publishes each page; nothing goes live unverified.

Vegetable Growing Guides USA

Related guides

More from the same group (peas & beans):

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