A Gem in the Rough: Zapote Negro

I love markets. No matter where in the world you are, the local market is the best place to visit to get a feel for the people and their food. The food is fresh, grown local on family farms and orchards, and you can eat your way through the isles, unlike a commercial supermarket.
On my first full day in Puebla, Jonathan and his brother Jorge, needed to go to the market. It was a Sunday, so everyone was out shopping in their sunday best, the vendors' stalls were piled high with goods and merchants lined the streets selling toys and flowers.

The fruit stalls here in Mexico fascinate me because they offer the most ingredients that are unique to me. They are local, native fruits that are more fresh than any tropical fruit you can buy at your super market. Even the fruits that don't grow in this region travel a much shorter distance than they do to reach Kansas City. This allows fruits to ripen naturally and develop a more intense flavor.
I followed Jonathan as he weaved through the maze of narrow paths, contorting my body to fit between people. Passing through an intersecton of fruit isles, I saw a pile of previously unattainable fruit that I had been wanting to wrap my lips around since I saw Andrew Zimmern eat it on "Bizarre Foods." They were gems, actually more like gems in the rough, about the size of an orange, lumpy, and dark green with brown to black splotches: it was zapote negro! I wispered to Jonathan that I wanted to try one and before I knew it, he had asked the vendor for a piece. The vendor obliged by pulling one apart revealing the shiny black paste inside and handing half to me.
I rushed the fruit to my lips and tried to squeeze the black paste out, but the thin, leather like skin just shred to pieces. The fruit was a mess in my hand, so with as much grace as I could muster, I ate it off my hand. Like a todller with ice cream, it got on my nose, all the way around my lips, and all over my hand.
The pulp didn't have an odor, it tasted mildly sweet, sort of banana like with a hint of fruitiness you would expect from a black fruit. The texture though, really was just like chcocolate pudding as Andrew Zimmern said!

 I had to wonder about the first person to look at this and say "yumm" let's eat!

Jonathan bought a whole one to take home; the pastry chef in me began whirling with ideas about how I was going to use this fruit in a dessert. I refferenced my copy of "My sweet Mexico" by Fany Gerson and she has one recipe for Dulce de Zapote Negro or zapote negro pudding. Orange and zapote negro are a classic combination, add some rum and you have a fantastic pudding.

Fresh lime juice, fresh orange juice, rum, sugar, zapote negro are all of the ingrediants.

I tried using a spoon to get the pulp, but hands worked best.

Few foods with "black" in the name truely are, however, with zapote negro it is the perfect descriptor.

The finished pudding garnished with an orange segment and rum whipped cream.

Jonathan is modeling my pudding.



4 out of 4 Mexicans who ate this pudding agreed that it was delicious!