The unusual tropical fruit called black sapote was in your share last week, Saturday Dec. 5th. It starts out bright green and firm, and looks like a large unripe persimmon. If you kept the fruit and didn’t put it in the extras box, this is what it might look like about now.
Black sapote at one week, not completely ripe yet.
See how two of the fruit are darker, but still greenish? They’re ripening but not ready yet! I’d wait a few more days, maybe till the end of the week, until the greenish tinge is gone, and the fruit looks completely black. (The green one is completely inedible unripe. Hope you didn’t find that out the hard way.) It can ripen very fast, so check it every day. When the fruit is very soft, and looks dark and totally disgusting, ready to be thrown into the garbage, and you’re grumbling to yourself, what did I get myself into with this thing — that’s when it’s ready to eat. Really! But not yet, not now. Soon!
When it’s ready, I like to cut the fruit in half and scoop out the soft flesh with a spoon. It can get a bit messy but licking fingers is part of the fun. The thin skin is inedible, and there are several large shiny brown seeds. The ripe flesh will have the consistency and appearance of chocolate pudding, and some people think it tastes a bit like chocolate, well sort of. Last year I tried a banana bread recipe and used black sapote instead. The bread came out a bit dry, so maybe using honey as a sweetener will help keep it moist. The bread is also good toasted, and freezes well.
Here’s information and a bunch of recipes from UF IFAS, including one for honey black sapote cake, which I might try… if I don’t eat up these fruit as is (licking my chops).
Hi Marian,
Thanks for your comments! I would really like to get more comments/feedback and participating from other CSA peeps! (I know a lot of people read but don’t comment) So I appreciate you visiting my blog! And thanks for the offer of the photos too, I just might use yours on Sat. no sense in all of us taking photos!
I must admit, I wasn’t too pleased with the taste of the betel leaves in my salad. What did you make with them? They were too strong for me and I think might be interesting to stuff them.
Hi Laura,
Thanks for replying to my comment with one of your own! Yup, I’ve got lurking CSA peeps also (you guys know who you are). Maybe they’re shy…? Was hoping the blog would help get a conversation started among members. Hey, there’s always f2f at Farm Day!
As for the betel leaves, I think they’re best cooked. Ate them minced in scrambled eggs at the brunch at Possum Trot a few months ago. Robert Barnum also suggested making a pesto out of them, because the leaves don’t keep very long. Haven’t done anything with mine yet, but I think eggs is the way I’ll go.
I heard from a CSA member today that…”The braised greens were delicious and betel leaf wrapped fish was amazing. ”
Last week Robert made our farm crew a vegetarian lasagna with eggplant and a layer of betel leaves. Its presence was strong and peppery, but really good- like a smoked sausage. We all liked it.
I think the trick is to cook the betel leaf, but use it as a condiment or flavoring, not as a main ingredient. I bet that salad recipe was for another, similar species of Piper, with a milder flavor!
I remember having an appetizer in Sydney at a Malaysian restaurant last year that used the betel leaf as a wrapper to encase tofu, mushroom and eggplant in a chile sauce, it was delicious but I don’t remember eating the leaf (maybe I thought it was like banana leaf?) or it’s taste. The salad was really inedible and very medicine-like, I had to throw it out. It was a Thai recipe and only said “Thai betel leaves.” So, definitely not good to use that way in the carrot salad but this is how we learn!