Chocolate Pudding Grows on Trees By Julia Schafer, Boyland, Qld.
Grow your own healthy desserts with this less common fruit. When we moved into our house in the beautiful Scenic Rim at the base of Mount Tamborine, I searched the whole property to find established fruit trees, hoping that like many Queensland homes that there might be a mango, avocado or macadamia tree. The previous owners had planted a lemonade tree which I was excited to see was prolific with large juicy fruit, although planted just a little close to the house for the size of the tree. I also found a lime, mandarin and orange tree behind a towering mock orange hedge and so totally shaded and stunted. As they were well established the root systems were not going to survive being dug up and moved so I have just left them for now. I spied some huge palms that resembled bananas in a grove but they turned out to be giant birds of paradise. What a disappointment! On the fenceline was a sprawling tree that I recognised immediately by the shape of its leaves, a mulberry! Yippee, I had always wanted a mulberry. We quickly pruned it back to a manageable size and waited for mulberry season. Once I saw the myriad of flowers appearing and the swarms of native bees I got more and more excited at the prospect of large dark purple fruit, potential pies, jams and topping for ice cream. But as each and every flower dropped to the ground without producing fruit I felt more dejected. I searched the net and was disappointed to discover it was a fruitless mulberry planted for its privacy screening and nothing else. Argh! After all this disappointment I turned my attention to the beautiful shade tree with glossy green leaves that seemed to be purpose-
fully planted in the fenced off area which houses the water tanks. I had no idea what it was, but was hopeful that it was edible. I searched the ground under the tree for pips, seeds, shells, wanting, hoping, to find a trace of what might be something to give me a clue. I looked up into the highest branches and spied a glimpse of two round fruit! Yippee! But what were they? They resembled a tamarillo but were more round, like a persimmon,
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but not quite. I posted a picture on a local gardening Facebook group and the answer came back. It was a black sapote, otherwise know as the chocolate pudding fruit tree. Sounds interesting, I thought. I researched to find out about the fruit, when to harvest it and how to use it. A species native to Mexico, Central America and Columbia, it loves the warmer parts of Queensland and friends who had previously lived in Townsville
