Thursday, August 21, 2014

First Sapodilla

Hugo noticed all the flowers thinking tons of fruit and I said that the tree has had those flowers for a long time and nothing comes of it. Looked around the back side of the tree and suddenly saw the first fruit. We had totally missed it. So now it looks like many of those flowers will turn into fruit after being 2 years in the ground. Don't think I've seen these in the market so tasting this one will be a first. Sounds exotic and even more so that it's a chicle tree.
Scientific name: Manilkara zapota.  Also known as nispero or chico sapote, this member of the Sapotaceae family is native to the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico and Central America. Distribution of the fruit and trees began before Columbus discovered the New World, and now they can be found across the globe. 
Today the plants are cultivated almost exclusively for commercial fruit production, but the sticky sap called latex was also coveted by indigenous Americans. In fact, the sap is the original source of chewing gum or chicle in Spanish. 
The name "zapota" ultimately derives from the Nahuatl word tzapotl by way of the Spanish zapote.

Sapodilla fruit

Sapodilla flowers

Sapodilla in the market

Tropical Fruit Nursery - Sapodilla

2 comments:

Steve Cotton said...

You could open your own chiclets factory.

sparks said...

The 4 year old leaves her chewed Chiclets everywhere if she doesn't swallow them. So more ... no thanks


Actually I think the tree has to get much bigger and they tap them like for maple syrup

The construction of the house finished in April 2011 and I'm pretty much settled in. As of March 2014 I'm in preparation for rain mode for this coming summer. That includes sealing and painting things and dealing with drainage issues from last year.

Sparks Mexico Web
Manzanillo Information
House building in Pinal Villa

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