Fruit Warehouse

Fruit Warehouse | Sapodilla ( Manilkara zapota ) | The fruit is a large ellipsoid berry, 4-8 cm in diameter, very much resembling a smooth-skinned potato and containing two to five seeds. The fruit has a high latex content and does not ripen until picked, whereupon the fruit softens to a firmness and appearance very similar to That of a fuzzy, brown-skinned kiwifruit.


Manilkara zapota, commonly known as the Sapodilla, is a long-lived, evergreen tree native to southern Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean. It is grown in huge quantities in India, Pakistan and Mexico.


The fruit has an exceptionally sweet, malty flavor. From germination, the Sapodilla tree will usually take anywhere from five to eight years to bear fruit. The Sapodilla trees yield fruit twice a year, though Flowering may continue year round.


It is known as chikoo ("चिक्कू" or chiku, "चीकू,") in India and Pakistan ("چیکو" chiku or "آلوچہ" âlucha) and sapota in some parts of India (Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh) , sapathilla or flat-mi in Sri Lanka, sobeda / sofeda (সবেদা or সফেদা) in eastern India and Bangladesh, sabudheli ("ސ ަ ބ ު ދ ެ ލ ި") in Maldives, sapodilla in Indonesia and sauces in West Sumatra, hong xiêm (lit. Siamese persimmon) , Long Mut or xa po che in Vietnam, lamoot (ละมุด) in Thailand, Laos and Cambodia.


It is called ciku in standard Malay and brown Nilo in Kelantanese Malay. In Chinese, the name is by many people mistakenly translated roughly as "ginseng fruit" (人参 果), though this is also the name used for the pepino, an unrelated fruit; it should instead be "heart fruit" (人心 果) Because it is shaped like the heart.