Nutritious ciku

Ciku is an interesting tropical fruit. It has a tea coloured, egg-shaped fruit that is hard, gummy and very astringent when unripe. The ripe ciku is very sweet, having a slight pear flavour with a mixed taste of honey and brown sugar. The fruit is used in many folk cures. 

Ciku bears many names in different parts of the tropic such as chicle, chico, naseberry, neeseberry, sapota, sapodilla and che che. Ciku is a member of the family Sapotaceae. During peak season, a mature tree bears hundreds of heart-shaped fruits that the Chinese have named yan sam koa (human heart fruit).