Cutite

What it is

Cutite is Pouteria macrophylla, also called taturubá. The fruit is rounded, with greenish-yellow skin and yellow flesh, and can reach about 6 cm (2.4 in) long and 4 cm (1.6 in) across. A thick layer of pulp surrounds usually one or two seeds.

Its sweetness comes with a starchy body. It is eaten mostly once it is fully mature.

Where it comes from

Cutite comes from tropical South America. It grows in Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, French Guiana and Suriname, as well as Colombia and Venezuela. It is both a wild food and a cultivated fruit. In Pará, in the Brazilian Amazon, people have grown it in their home gardens.

How it's eaten where it grows

In Itapecuru and Pinga, two rural communities in the municipality of Cocal, Piauí, cutite is eaten fresh and made into sembereba. The preparation is simple: the fruit is mashed by hand in water, and the liquid that results is sembereba.

The pulp also goes into ice cream and sweets, and it can be used to fill cakes.

How it's grown

Cutite grows as a tree that loses some of its leaves during the year. It grows in full sun or dappled shade. Seeds need planting soon after the pulp is removed because drying takes away their ability to sprout.

Young trees begin bearing after about three to four years, depending on climate and care.

When and where you'll find it

Cutite is a fruit of local markets and the places where people gather or grow it. Collection follows the fruit’s natural fall from the tree, when it is generally yellow. Fresh pulp, sweets and ice cream are the forms that connect its harvest to the table.