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Mammee apple

 

Synonyms: mamey apple, mamey, Santo Domingo apricot or South American apricot

botanical name: Mammea americana

 


 

Origin and importance

The mammee apple is common to the Caribbean, the West Indies and parts of South and Central America. It can also be found in Florida. The fruit, which is named like a pip fruit and looks like a stone fruit but is neither, grows in the warm, humid rainforests on a tree that can be up to 25 m tall. The mammee apple is related botanically to the mangosteen and belongs to the berries.
The fruits ripen during the summer months. The trees are usually found in private gardens, making the mammee apple of only limited importance economically.

 

Appearance, taste, characteristics

The fruit is 7.5-20 cm in size and spherical. It has a thick, rough, yellow-to-brown, inconspicuous skin. At its centre are one to four large, smooth-skinned inedible seeds.
The pulp is firm, juicy and light-yellow to reddish-yellow and has a buttery texture. It is crossed by white threads that are edible but bitter, and therefore are usually removed before the fruit is eaten. Otherwise, the fruits taste sweet, slightly tart, tangy and aromatic, calling to mind apricots, mangos, vanilla and caramel.

 

Form of consumption, use, processing, practical tips for preparation

The juicy fruit is eaten fresh. You can cut it open and spoon out the pulp, or you can cut it into thick strips. The white threads should be removed. The pulp tastes good in fruit salad, or with wine, sugar or cream. Alternatively, it can be cooked to make purée, jam, or sauce and eaten, for example, with ice cream. It can also be tinned.
In the French Caribbean islands an aromatic liqueur (eau de Créole) is distilled from the blossoms of the mammee tree.
The pulp that is directly beneath the skin and the juice that drips from the branches are used to make mammee wine.

 

Ingredients

The mammee apple is somewhat more rich in vitamins than true apples.

 

 

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