Sapodilla FAQs

Berries botanically known as Manilkara zapota, sapodillas are the exquisitely malty, sweet fruits of an evergreen tree that bear the same name. Sapodilla fruits are loved around the world and are also called sapota, chikoo, chiku, naseberry, or nispero.

These tropical fruits range in size from about a tennis ball to a softball and feel heavy for their size when ripe. Sapodilla fruit has peachy white flesh inside with blushes of red running throughout. In the center are usually about two large, shiny and black like an oversized watermelon seed. Outside, their sapodilla skin is yellowish tan similar to an Asian pear. 

Knowing how to tell if a sapodilla is ripe is easy. First, the skin will look a little wrinkly, almost like a baked potato. The fruit will yield easily with gentle pressure from the thumb without being mushy. The sapodilla will have a familiar fragrance of fresh pumpkin and brown sugar.

Delicious sapodilla fruits, native to southern Mexico and Central America and the Caribbean, grow from an evergreen tree of the same name. Today they’re cultivated in other countries throughout the world with tropical climates including the United States, India and throughout Southeast Asia.

Sapodilla fruit is a peachy white inside with blushes of red running down the inside of the fruit. The seeds are somewhat large, shiny and black with a pointed end like an oversized watermelon seed. Outside, their skin is yellowish tan similar to a russet potato.

Knowing how to tell if a sapodilla is ripe is easy. First, the skin will look a little wrinkly, almost like a baked potato. The fruit will yield easily with gentle pressure from the thumb without being mushy. The sapodilla will have a familiar fragrance of fresh pumpkin and brown sugar.

When fully ripened, sapodilla can be enjoyed raw or in countless cooked preparations. Stir the fruit into your yogurt, shake into salad dressings or fold it into pastry creams. Cooking sapodilla gives this brown sugary fruit a roasted flavor that tastes delicious in sweet and savory recipes from soups to jams, roasted meats to seafood.

No. Sapodilla seeds are inedible, and can be dangerous if swallowed. That’s because most sapodilla varieties have seeds that have a fish hook shaped spike at one end of the seed that can cause pain if swallowed. Be sure to remove sapodilla seeds before serving them to children or pets.

Delicious sapodilla fruits, native to southern Mexico and Central America and the Caribbean, grow from an evergreen tree of the same name. Today they’re cultivated in other countries throughout the world with tropical climates including the United States, India and throughout Southeast Asia.

Sapodilla is a fruit known to be rich in vitamins A and C. However, there is not a lot of scientific information available about sapodilla’s nutritional content. Below is an estimation of sapodilla nutrition from  .

Sapodilla Nutrition (100g)

• Calories: 83
• Fat: 1g
• Sodium: 12g
• Potassium: 257mg
• Carbohydrates: 20mg

In the United States, sapodilla season ranges from May to September, peaking in early summer around June. Mexico enjoys sapodilla twice a year in the spring and fall. In some parts of the world, the fruit is available year round!

This versatile fruit grows around the world and therefore makes a home in the cuisines of those regions. Ripe sapodilla is used in recipes for every course of the menu and in beverages for all ages. This fruit is exceptionally sweet, with flavors reminiscent of molasses, brown sugar, sweet potato and pear.

Sapodilla has a flavor profile all its own, making it a great introduction to all kinds of sapote fruits. This one is exceptionally sweet, with flavors reminiscent of brown sugar, sweet potato and pear. They have pearlike texture too, with a rich molasses taste that’s often described as malty. Unripened sapodillas are not edible because the powerful astringency of the fruit gives an uncomfortable, chalky mouthfeel.

Eating ripe sapodilla fruits is easy! Their refreshingly juicy flesh adds brown sugary sweetness to many recipes. Enjoy the fruit raw directly from the peel, but remember to remove those dangerous seeds before digging in. It can be used in raw recipes like granitas, salads and fruit purees. Cooking sapodilla enhances the malty, pumpkin pie flavor that the fruit is known for, especially in sauces, desserts and jams.

Ripe sapodillas are about as close as you can get to naturally pureed fruit! As such, their sweet, scoopable flesh is incredibly easy to add to all kinds of drinks. From stirring into plain water for a fruity take on hydration to shaking into cocktails for a sweet libation, sapodillas are sure to be your new favorite fruit to drink.

Sapodilla fruits are best left at room temperature to ripen, up to a week or more. Once ripened, immediately refrigerate sapodilla in a sealed container. Sapodillas will remain fresh this way for up to a week.

To freeze sapodilla, wait until they are fully ripened then scoop all of the fruit from the peel. Discard the peel and seeds. Then, store the fruit in an airtight container or ice cube tray in the freezer for up to a month.

Yes! Over at FruitStand, we love sharing fruit with our wet-nosed friends. Good dogs can have sapodilla in moderation. Make certain you’ve removed the dangerous seeds and the peel from the fruit first. And as always, clear the safety of all new fruits and produce with your veterinarian before giving them to your dog.

Sapodilla is super juicy which means it might leave a mark on certain fabrics. To keep a stain from setting in, treat the spot with a stain remover that’s safe for that particular fabric. Follow the directions on the product to prevent the spot from setting, then launder the item.

Sapodilla is super juicy which means it might leave a mark on certain fabrics. If this happens, first treat the spot with a stain remover that’s safe for that particular fabric. Follow the directions on the product to prevent the spot from setting, and pop the item into the washer as soon as you can.

Sapodilla and sapote varieties might be popular around the world, but they’re pretty hard to come by in the United States. These rare-to-us fruits share some similarities, but are indeed two distinctly delicious fruit experiences.

Sapodilla and sapote are both fruits from evergreen trees that are soft and sweet when ripe. In fact, neither of these fruits can be consumed before they’re fully ripe because of their intense astringency. Both the sapodilla and sapote reward eaters’ patience with soft, juicy flesh that you can eat with a spoon, with a pumpkin-y, squashlike fragrance.

Comparatively speaking, sapodilla is the most flavor forward of the bunch. Their flesh is much sweeter, with a brown sugar and malt richness. Black and mamey sapotes, for instance, have much milder sweetness. Texturally, ripe sapodilla is extremely juicy and as soft as a very ripe pear making it almost impossible to slice. On the outside, one might mistake the sapodilla for a potato if they didn’t know better; the black sapote looks like a green persimmon and the mamey has a teardrop shape and kiwilike texture.

Has your once sweet-smelling sapodilla gone from pleasant to pungent? It’s easy to get bad smells from sapodilla out of your house with a few simple steps.

First, discard any spoiled sapodilla fruit. Then, clean the area where it was stored with hot, soapy water or cleaning spray and allow the area to dry thoroughly. See our section on how to store sapodilla  for help on keeping them fresher for longer! 

Wondering where to buy the rare and delicious sapodilla? We’ve got great news for you! FruitStand is proud to partner with small, specialty farmers to bring you exceptional quality sapodilla. To be the first to know when FruitStand is shipping sapodilla harvests, join our email newsletter!