sapodilla

Tropical evergreen tree (Manilkara zapota, or Achras zapota) and its distinctive fruit, of the family Sapotaceae, native to southern Mexico and northern Central America. The rusty-brown fruit is eaten fresh in many tropical and subtropical areas. Its sweet flavour has been compared to a combination of pears and brown sugar. When the fruit is ripe, its shiny black seeds are surrounded by clear, yellowish brown, juicy flesh; when immature, its flesh contains both tannin and milky latex and is distasteful. The latex is the chief source of gum chicle, once important in the chewing-gum industry.

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