Black Sapote (Chocolate Pudding Fruit)

This is a black sapote. It doesn't look that special, but what's inside is worth gold.
Why? It tastes like chocolate pudding.

On a spur-of-the-moment trip to Byron Bay (NSW, Australia), we spotted a random "theme park" tucked away in the water-slide and roller coaster parks scattered around the Gold Coast. A giant sign on the side of the freeway read "TROPICAL FRUIT WORLD".....tropical fruit world? WTF? If this is Australia's equivalent of the USA's giant ball of twine? If so, I'm in! We ventured our way to this mysterious destination to learn it has the world's largest variety of tropical fruit (insert: hell yes), complete with tastings of the unique fruits, orchard tours, and even kangaroos and koalas. We left with a few interesting fruits such as the abiu (tastes like vanilla custard) and rollinia (tastes like lemon merengue pie)...but the black sapote was probably my favorite!

A black sapote is a type of persimmon native to Mexico and Central America. It is more commonly known as the "chocolate pudding fruit," due to the flavor, consistency, and color of the inside. The fruit is about 2-4 inches in diameter and soft when ripe. The info provided at Tropical Fruit World stated it was best eaten with ice cream. Being a chocoholic, I had my doubts...but I must confess, the claims were spot-on and the black sapote will forever be on my purchase list if/when I see it again! This decadent fruit seems to melt in your mouth and has a cocoa flavor. It's not that sweet, nor is it tart, which is why a little ice cream or vanilla agave (something sweet) goes so well with it. 

We tried the two popular versions: a black sapote smoothie and spoonfuls of black sapote with ice cream. Smoothies are wonderful, but the fruit and ice cream choice was the winner! The ice cream complemented the fruit with each bite whereas the smoothie diluted the fruits delicate flavor. 

When you find one, this is the easiest way to prepare it...

Ingredients

• 1 ripe Black Sapote
• Vanilla Bean ice cream, few scoops

Directions

1. Slice the black sapote like an avocado - around the central "pit." Twist and separate the halves and de-seed the fruit (almond-sized seeds in the middle). 
2. Scoop some ice cream in to a bowl and then scoop out as much of the black sapote as you can and put it in with the ice cream! Or you can scoop out some ice cream and black sapote individually...but definitely eating the ice cream and black sapote in the same bite is the winner! 

Slicing the black sapote.

Slicing around like an avocado.

Twist and pull the two halves.

Pick out the large seeds in the middle.

The seeds in the middle. If you twist and pull just right, it'll all go to one side, like above!

What the "pit" looks like...a bunch of large seeds.
Note: you can eat the fruit around the seeds!

Scoop out and eat with ice cream! (we ate it all before we could get photos, sorry)

Black sapote smoothie.

We also purchased some local macadamia nuts.

The rollinia fruit, also from Tropical Fruit World.

After searching the web, I found a few recipes showcasing the black sapote:

• Black Sapote Pudding, Bread, and Pie
• Black Sapote Mousse
• Black Sapote Topping (for ice cream, cheesecake, pancakes, etc.)
• Black Sapote Muffins
• Black Sapote "Mudcake" Brownies (this sounds fab!)
• Black Sapote Cake
• Black Sapote Magic (coconut milk drink)

We'll have to find some more black sapotes and try these recipes :)

For more info: Tropical Fruit World.

Keywords: tropical fruit world, australia, nsw, gold coast, black sapote, rollinia, abiu.