Double check the calendar; this is not an April Fools joke. This fruit actually tastes like chocolate pudding. Black sapote is a tropical fruit that resembles an unripe persimmon from the outside, but holds a seriously dark, delicious secret on the inside. The smooth, soft brown inside is a ready-to-eat dessert, or the perfect healthy addition to recipes that call for chocolate. Not only is it low in fat, it’s also a great source of vitamin C and calcium.
If you are wondering you can get them in the US, the answer is Yes. Though it’s originally native to Mexico and Central America, it’s grown and harvested in Florida between December and March. If you’re on a diet and really looking to stock up on this miracle food, you can order 5- and 10-pound boxes of them once the season starts. Though there’s plenty of proof out there that eating these fruits straight is pretty darn delicious, we found a couple recipes so you can put your haul to good use:
Black Sapote Bread
Switch up your morning slice of banana bread by swapping in black sapote. It keeps the bread tender, moist, and — in this recipe — even allows you to cut down the butter needed.
Get the recipe from The Travel Bite.
Black Sapote Mousse
Cream, liqueur, and sugar make this less of a healthy dessert, but it’s still an indulgent way to enjoy something new.
Here’s the explanation from Small Town Chutney:
It took about 6 days for the Black Sapote I bought at the Green Shed in Mt Tamborine to fully ripen. I was having a short love affair with the gorgeous rich colours inside the ripe fruit. I love how the seeds look pressed into the middle and the flesh has a varnished wood colour. I took a ton of photos and ate a small one so I could appreciate the raw taste. After mucking around with a few recipe ideas, I actually think the best way to eat sapote is plain or with a side serve of fresh cream/vanilla ice cream. The fruit is fairly mild and does have a slight chocolate taste but I think it is the colour and texture that convince your mind it is chocolate pudding.
I had grand plans to make black sapote ice cream (with my new ice cream maker), however it was definitely not ice cream weather on the day the fruit was ready.
So I found a nice mousse recipe involving blending cream, sapote, a dash of liqueur, gelatine and sugar. I know why I have a terrible track record of making desserts…I have an innate inability to follow recipes. Most desserts require precision of ingredients, I love to experiment. Everything was going marvellous and I added a bit of orange juice (going for the jaffa taste). This seemed to be working until I added the some orange zest to the mix. This caused a bit of a curdle effect. It still tasted amazing but presentation wise I would have lost some serious points. I am going to show you the photos anyway because I still think it looked cute.
So there you have it. I will add this to the list of wonderful creative dessert flops. I had a ball making them but next time, I will stick to eating black sapote raw with a spoon.
