Bahamian Bush Medicine: The wonders of the Sapodilly (Manilkara zapota)

For this next Island Biology Blog I decided on a tropical Island fruit, mainly because it was so good I couldn't wait to share it with you. Ripe and soft it tastes like baked pears with cinnamon and brown sugar! Amazing, right?! It is grown in Florida and California, so if you can't get it from the Bahamas directly I highly suggest you try it here. Its names are varied but is most commonly called the 

Sapodilly, Sapodillla, Chico or Naseberry.  

 The evergreen tree originates in central american rain-forests, is quick growing and oddly drought resistant. There is a stick white resin that comes out the bark and the stem of the sapodilly known as chicle and used to be used as a chewing gum by the Aztecs. A related fruit, the gum dilly is still chewed by Bahamians today. I was able to try it myself. It was very reminiscent of chewing on burnt marshmallows. A fun thing if you're hungry enough.

 The fruit is high in vitamin A, C and very high in fiber. It is also rich in tannins which have been shown to have antiviral, antibacterial, anti-parasitic and anti-hemorrhoidial properties.

In Bush Medicine grated green fruit can be used to treat thrush. Jenise also told us that the fruit can be baked into a cake. I bet that would be de-lici-ous!

Sources:
"sapodilla". Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online.
Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2015. Web. 14 Mar. 2015
<http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/523694/sapodilla>.

Hannah-Smith, Martha. "Bush Medicine in Bahamian Folk Tradition". Dodd Printers, Miami. 2006