A chocolatey treat that literally grows on trees? It sounds too good to be true, and it mostly is. But the black sapote, aka “chocolate pudding fruit”, is still absolutely delicious and a much healthier alternative to the self-saucing dessert.

The nickname is a touch misleading. The black sapote (sa-poh-tee) is a kind of persimmon, and the flavour is, well, persimmon-y – but you eat with your eyes first, as they say, and the glistening, rich-mud dark brown of the fully ripened flesh certainly looks like something you’d pluck off a tree in Willy Wonka’s edible garden. Some people do swear that it tastes chocolatey to them. But Skye Orsmond from Queensland growers Fruit Forest Farm says there’s probably a bit of “trickery of the mind” at work here.

“Because it looks so similar to chocolate, I feel like when you’re eating it, your mind is seeking for that chocolate flavour,” she explains. “I’d probably describe it as a dense date and fruit flavour – more like a fruity date.”

Texture-wise, Orsmond says it’s somewhere between Nutella and cooked pumpkin – when it’s fully ripe. 

“One of the tricks with black sapote is eating it at the right maturity,” she explains. “When the skin goes completely black and it’s soft to touch, that means it’s really ripe and it’s at the optimal eating stage. You can also eat it when it just feels soft to touch, like quite soft and cushiony – that means that it’s going to be ripe inside. But when it’s gone black, that’s optimal eating.”

Another thing it does have in common with actual chocolate pudding? It pairs incredibly well with the kinds of things you’d put on a baked dessert. Orsmond notes that if you halve it along the ‘equator’ of the fruit and pop out the central cluster of seeds, you’re left with a handy little hollow to cradle a scoop of ice cream: “It’s like its own bowl!”

“The flesh really lends itself to being mixed with cream or dairy – if you’re vegan, you could use coconut cream or Coyo,” she says. 

 

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It also plays well as a baking ingredient, much as banana does. The Orsmond family recipe for black sapote mousse, however, is simple: just mix the ripe flesh with cream (and a dash of coffee liqueur or Baileys, if you’re into that) and whip it good.

As a fresh fruit, of course, it’s more than just a lighter swap for a baked treat or a unusual snack – it’s actively good for you.

“It’s very high in vitamin C,” Orsmond says. “It’s got three times as much as per serving as orange, which is pretty high, and it’s also a good source of calcium, phosphorus and fibre, so it’s pretty good nutritionally – just even adding it to a cake batter, you’d be benefiting nutritionally.” 

The best news? Early August is picking season, so you might be seeing black sapotes in your local markets any day now. 

Related recipe: Black sapote, molasses and ginger cake