Black sapote fruits are also called chocolate pudding fruit due to their taste. When ripe, the fruits are left with the shell slightly “wrinkled”, of green-brown color, they look withered. While the wind-resistant limbs and bark used as a gummy latex called “chicle,” the Chico Sapote’s fruit has a sweet flavor similar to malt or caramel, which has earned it the nickname “brown sugar.” You can also plant it in the ground or in a container. To me personally, the mamey fruit tastes more like a sweet potato! The word is incorporated into the common names of several unrelated fruit-bearing plants native to Mexico, Central America and northern parts of South America. [6][7], The fruit, technically a berry,[8] is about 10 to 25 cm (4 to 10 in) long and 8 to 12 cm (3 to 4.5 in) wide and has flesh ranging in color from pink to orange to red. [4] It is mainly propagated by grafting, which ensures the new plant has the same characteristics as the parent, especially its fruit, as it does not grow true to seed. how to grow, mamey, sapote, tropical fruits. Learn more about the sapote plant and its cultivation. Mamey trees, Mammea Americana, is also sometimes called Sapote or Mammee, Mamey de Santo Domingo, Abricote, and Abricot d'Amerique. I live in the Caribbean and I have a mamey tree in my backyard that’s been there forever. In Florida, the fruit is harvested from May to July with some cultivars ava… Trees are very beautify, evergreen and covered in oblong leaves that are tapered at both ends and coloured a wonderful glossy dark green. The tree will usually bloom 4 to 6 very fragrant, white petal blooms and orange stems. [19] Some beauty products use oil pressed from the seed,[20] otherwise known as sapayul oil. Sapote (from Nahuatl tzapotl) is a term for a soft, edible fruit. Flowers of the mamey fruit can bloom during and after fruiting. I really like it and I don’t even have to do anything to it, it’s so beautiful! The mamey fruit cannot sustain cold temperatures and will die off quickly if exposed to cold. But next time you head South, do ask the locals where you could get your hands on a mamey fruit or sapote – you won't regret trying this exotic fruit! The skin and seed are not edible, but the flesh is eaten raw or added to juices or smoothies. 10 Vegetable Garden Tips You Need to Know Right Now! The leaves are clustered at the tips of flowering branches and irregularly alternate along non-fruiting limbs. Pouteria sapota, the mamey sapote, is a species of tree native to Cuba and Central America, naturally ranging from southern Cuba to southern Costa Rica, plus Mexico. Mature black sapote trees can grow to over 25 m (82 ft) in height but this is rare. It's extremely aromatic with an orange colored flesh that tastes like an apricot or raspberry. This tropical fruit is not well known in North America, but it is a very popular tree especially in the Caribbean. "Cryptocapsinepoxide-Type Carotenoids from Red Mamey, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Pouteria_sapota&oldid=982410957, Articles containing Spanish-language text, Taxonbars with automatically added basionyms, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 7 October 2020, at 23:49. The tree looks a lot like a magnolia tree and can reach up to 75 feet in height. The seeds will take about two months to germinate. Cuttings or graftings can be used as well. Learn how to grow mamey trees/sapote with our expert gardening guide! This long-living evergreen tree is native to Southern Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean. It is part of the Gutifferae family and related to the mangosteen. Not sure if your fruit is ready to be consumed? Surprisingly, the mamey tree is rarely planted and grown for cultivation, but is rather just planted for landscape purposes. You will usually see mamey trees as ornamental trees in Costa Rica, El Salvador, and Guatemala. The flesh of the mamey fruit is usually eaten raw, added to salads, boiled and/or cooked with sugar or syrup, and can even be made into wine. Mamey is usually ready to eat when the fruit feels soft to the touch. It is mainly propagated by grafting, which ensures the new plant has the same characteristics as the parent, especially its fruit, as it does not grow true to seed. The mamey fruit, also known as mamey sapote, or just sapote, is a round, brown fruit that is about 4-8 inches across. Mamey can be eaten raw and can taste a little bit like a sweet potato. Tree. For example, in Barbados, the mamey fruit is ready for harvest in April. 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