Sapodilla

Get to know it

Sapodilla is a brown tropical fruit with very sweet flesh that tastes like brown sugar. Also called chikoo or naseberry, it comes with its own dessert bowl: cut a ripe fruit in half and eat the flesh with a spoon.

What it is

Sapodilla, Manilkara zapota, belongs to the same family as mamey sapote and abiu. Its round, oval or cone-shaped fruit measures 5–10 cm (2–4 in) across beneath a brown skin.

Texture depends on the variety. Brown Sugar has brown, slightly grainy flesh; Gonzalez is smooth, with light-brown to brown flesh. Inside are shiny, flattened seeds, dark brown to black. Remove these before serving.

Where it comes from

Sapodilla comes from Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula and Central America. It travelled to the Philippines early in colonial times, then spread through the Old World tropics, reaching Sri Lanka in 1802.

It is widely grown and eaten in Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean and India. In India it is mostly grown in Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala.

How it's eaten where it grows

In India, chikoo goes into milkshakes and chikoo ka halwa. For the halwa, pureed fruit cooks with ghee, sugar, cardamom and khoya, also called mawa. Stirred until thick and finished with almonds and pistachios, it is served warm.

Chikoo ice cream takes the fruit in the other direction. One Indian version blends frozen slices with condensed milk, then folds them into whipped cream and milk powder before freezing. It needs no ice-cream machine.

How it's grown

Sapodilla grows on a slow-growing evergreen tree in tropical and warm subtropical climates. Growers graft shoots of a chosen variety onto seedling roots. Grafted trees can start bearing in two to four years; trees grown from seed usually take six to seven years or more.

Fruit can be picked mature and ripened off the tree. Picking too early can leave it poorly sweetened, with pockets of sticky latex in the flesh.

When and where you'll find it

In Florida, the main season usually runs May to September; around Miami it starts as early as December and runs to June. In the United States, Indian grocery stores sell frozen chikoo slices, which work well in ice cream.

Fresh fruit picked at the right maturity usually takes four to ten days to ripen. Once ripe, it can go in the refrigerator; the flesh is ready for a spoon.

Sources · 7

Get it near Detroit

What it tastes like

Sweeter than a banana, as mild as a peach≈

Not sweetlemonapplebananaSweet

MildbananaapplelemonSour

SoftbananaappleCrisp

More about the taste

Ripe sapodilla is sweet to very sweet. Depending on variety, its flesh can be smooth or gently granular rather than uniformly silky.

Variety shapes the texture: Gonzalez is smooth, Brown Sugar is slightly granular, and Russell is granular, with pulp ranging from pale tan through reddish-brown; ripeness also plays a part.

A tasting invitation

Describe the sweetness and any graininess without assuming that all sapodillas share one texture — varieties run from smoother to more granular. Brown sugar or pear can be useful tasting prompts, but record what this particular fruit actually suggests.

Choose, ripen, store, eat

1ChooseSlightly wrinkled skin
Look for
Slightly wrinkled skin
Softened, not mushy
Ignore
Brown skin alone
Look for slightly wrinkled skin and fruit that has softened without becoming mushy.
2RipenRipens after picking4–10 days
Ripens after picking
4–10 days
Properly mature sapodillas can finish ripening after picking, usually within four to ten days. Fruit picked too immature may stay unpleasant, fail to sweeten properly or contain latex pockets.
3StoreFridge, ripe
1. FridgeRipe
Refrigerate once ripe, and use softened fruit promptly.
4EatFlesh · not seeds
Eat
Flesh
Not eaten
Seeds
Use the soft flesh and remove the seeds before serving; don't eat the seeds.

More tips

A useful detail Sapodilla has a history beyond its fruit: chicle, a latex from the tree's bark, was once a principal ingredient in chewing gum. That doesn't make the latex in an immature fruit a desirable tasting feature.

Worth knowing

Softening time alone won't reliably rescue an early-picked sapodilla — maturity at picking matters for eventual eating quality.
Sapodilla varieties differ in graininess and aroma.

Detroit, Michigan

When it’s good here

Grown here

Ships from other statesDec–Sep

20 growing areas, 7 countries

Andhra Pradesh
Balochistan
East Java
Florida
Himachal Pradesh
Johor
New South Wales
Northern Territory +1
Pahang
Pará
Penang
Pernambuco
South Florida
You

Grows hereIn season nowOther monthsYou

4 of 8 areas · October

112

Growing areas by country

India6
Australia3
Malaysia3
Brazil2
Indonesia2
Pakistan2
United States2

and 2 more countries

In Singapore, chiku is a familiar edible-garden tree; its bark sap was once harvested for chewing gum, called chicle, before synthetic substitutes took over — a different plant product from the sweet pulp.
Singapore gardening context / wider chicle use

25 varieties

See all 25 varieties

54 names in 23 languages

人心果root

Cook it

How to serve it first

Open a washed, ripe fruit and separate its flesh from the seeds before eating or blending. Begin with a spoonful plain, then try prepared pulp in a small milkshake or frozen dessert. Keep the first version simple enough to recognize the fruit itself.

Recipes 2

1 Sapodilla festival

Chikoo Festival DahanuFebBordi, Maharashtra, India · Organiser ↗Feb

Festivals this month →

Strange but true

If you like Sapodilla

Tastes alike

Same plant family

Used the same way

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Nutrition, sources

Nutrition

Sapodilla, raw · per 100 g

Energy83kcal · 347 kJ

Carbohydrate: 20 g
Fiber: 5.3 g
Protein: 0.4 g
Fat: 1.1 g
Vitamin C: 15 mg
Potassium: 193 mg

Sources

Sapodilla · Fruitopia · checked Sep 21, 2026