Large deciduous tree with dark green, slightly silky, lanceolate leaves in large bunches. The ovate pepo (a type of berry) can grow up to 25 cm. The skin is thick and rough and the soft pulp is red to orange in colour. The mamey sapote fruit contains a large blackish-brown, spindle-shaped seed.
Besides the very sweet fruit that is eaten raw, the roasted seeds of the mamey sapote can be milled into flour and used to flavour cocoa and sweets. In Mexico the seed flour is mixed with cocoa, cinnamon and sugar and made into a popular drink called pozol.
The mamey sapote, which was planted at the Tropenhaus as a gift, is still growing but has not as yet borne any fruit. So it will be a few years before we can say how sweet they really are.
Central America
Spain
Besides the very sweet fruit that is eaten raw, the roasted seeds of the mamey sapote can be milled into flour and used to flavour cocoa and sweets. In Mexico the seed flour is mixed with cocoa, cinnamon and sugar and made into a popular drink called pozol.
The mamey sapote, which was planted at the Tropenhaus as a gift, is still growing but has not as yet borne any fruit. So it will be a few years before we can say how sweet they really are.
