Sapodilla

The same fruit as chico

Sapodilla and chico fruit are the same species — Manilkara zapota. The fruit is called “sapodilla” in English-speaking regions and Caribbean markets, “chico” in Mexico, “chiku” in India, and “naseberry” in Jamaica.

The naming reflects the fruit’s spread from Mesoamerica around the world: each major cultivating region developed its own preferred name, leading to the modern multi-name confusion.

Brown sugar tree

Cut a ripe sapodilla in half and the flesh tastes uncannily like soft brown sugar — sweet, malty, with a faint pear-and-caramel character. The texture is grainy, similar to a slightly underripe pear.

This sugar-like sweetness is part of why sapodilla is sometimes called “brown sugar fruit” — and why it’s so popular in milkshakes and ice cream, where the inherent sweetness reduces the need for added sugar.

The original chewing gum

The sapodilla tree is the original natural source of chicle — the latex used as a chewing-gum base from the 1860s through the mid-20th century. Mayan and Aztec peoples were chewing chicle long before its industrial commercialization.

The American chewing-gum industry was built on imported Mexican chicle until the 1950s, when synthetic gum bases largely replaced natural chicle. A small craft chicle revival has emerged since 2010, with environmentally conscious gum brands using sustainably harvested traditional chicle.

India’s chiku obsession

In India and Pakistan, chiku (sapodilla) is a beloved tropical fruit — eaten fresh, blended into milkshakes, used in ice cream, and incorporated into desserts. Indian street vendors sell ripe chiku throughout fall and winter.

The fruit is also occasionally fermented into a homemade wine in rural India, though commercial wine production is small. Chiku pulp is increasingly used in commercial frozen-fruit products and packaged smoothies.

A long-lived productive tree

Sapodilla trees are slow-growing but extremely long-lived — productive for 100+ years once established. A mature tree can produce 2,000-3,000 fruits annually, making sapodilla one of the more productive tropical fruit species on a per-tree basis.

The trees thrive in tropical lowlands but show surprising drought tolerance, making them suitable for subtropical regions like southern Florida and Mexico’s drier coastal areas.