To All,
While sidling through Whole Foods on 25 Aug 2015, I was highly pleased to find a mamey sapote (PLU #4310). This fruit goes by a variety of names in Latin America; I will call it a "mamey" since that is what Pepe, who is from Cuba, calls it. It cost $4.99 per pound, and mine weighed 1.38 pounds, so the cost was $6.89. Here are some pictures from the Internet.
The Plant
The mamey tree is often about 60 feet tall, though it can be as tall as 130 feet.The flowers and fruit have the unusual habit of growing right on the stems; we have seen this behavior before in the cacao tree (16 May 2015). Here are some pictures of the mamey tree.
- A complete tree. if you look closely, you can see fruit in the tree.
- A shot of a branch that shows the density of fruit.
- A close-up that shows both a fruit and the growth form of the leaves.
- A picture that shows the flowers and the fruit growing directly on the stem.
- Three pictures that give increasingly close views of the flowers.
- A close-up of a fruit.
The mamey is native to an area ranging from southern Mexico to northern Nicaragua. "Sapote" comes from the Aztec word "tzapotl," which was applied to all soft, sweet fruits. The mamey is the national fruit of Cuba, where it is often grown as a garden plant or along a street. (It beats the hell of out Norway maple.) (This site and this site claim that the mamey is the national fruit of Cuba, and Pepe has confirmed it, but I have been unable to find any official statement. I was, however, able to confirm that the national bird of Cuba is the tocororo; see pictures.) The mamey is also used to shade coffee (18 Jul 2015) since it loses its leaves just at the time that coffee needs more sun. It has been grown in Florida for at least 130 years, but on an extremely small scale until the Cuban influx, which started in the 1960s, led to large plantings. Thus, ethnic change has led to the popularity of this fruit skyrocketing in Florida.
If you retire to Florida, you will be able to grow this plant in your yard. If you grow from seed, the plant will bear fruit only after eight to ten years, and the quality will be unpredictable. (There is one case of a plant in an unfavorable location that took 42 years to bear fruit.) To avoid these problems, plant a grafted tree; you will get fruit in one to four years, and its quality, i.e., its genetics, can be guaranteed since it is a clone. Go to this site for tips on propagating this plant. You can buy one live plant in a 4 inch pot for $25 at this site, or you can get a plant in a three-gallon container for $69.99 (plus $9.95 for optional gift packaging with a green bow) at this site. The latter site is loaded with tips on how to grow this plant.
For three short videos that give you tutorials on various aspects of mameys (when ripe, grafting, what they look like), go to Pepe's Plants. (This is not my Pepe but rather some other Pepe in Florida; the first picture below is of the faux Pepe and the second picture is of the real Pepe. The Pepe clan apparently delights in picturesque photos.) This site also gives mamey recipes.
(Continued in Part 2)
