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Chico (Sapodilla, ciku)
Local/Malay Name : Ciku/Sapodilla
Scientific Name : Achras sapota Linn.

There is great variation in the size and form of ciku trees. Under favorable conditions, a seedling tree may grow to a height of 17 - 25m but under sub-optimal conditions it may be no larger than a large shrub. Fruits are produced at frequent intervals throughout the year.
The fruits are round or oval, about 5 - 10cm long and weigh 100 - 170g. Mature fruits have a dull pale to rusty brown thin skin.

When ripe the flesh is yellowish to pinkish brown, soft, sweet and delicious. Unripe fruits are hard and
unpleasantly astringent. Each fruit has 2- 3 seeds about 1.5 - 2.0cm long which are hard, black, shining, obviate and somewhat flattened and are easily separated from the flesh. A native of tropical America it's well spread throughout the tropics and widely grown in parts of India and Africa, West Indies, Philippines, Malaysia, Tropical America and Southern Florida in the US.

Among numerous vernacular names, some of the most common are:
baramasi (Bengal and Bihar, India);
buah chiku (Malaya);
chicle (Mexico);
chico (Philippines, Guatemala, Mexico);
chicozapote (Guatemala, Mexico, Venezuela);
chikoo (India);
chiku (Malaya, India);
dilly (Bahamas; British West Indies);
korob (Costa Rica);
mespil (Virgin Islands);
mispel, mispu (Netherlands Antilles, Surinam);
muy (Guatemala);
muyozapot (El Salvador);
naseberry (Jamaica; British West Indies);
neeseberry (British West Indies;
nispero (Puerto Rico, Central America, Venezuela);
nispero quitense (Ecuador);
sapodilla plum (India);
sapota (India);
sapotí (Brazil);
sapotille (French West Indies);
tree potato (India);
Ya (Guatemala; Yucatan);
zapota (Venezuela);
zapote (Cuba);
zapote chico (Mexico; Guatemala);
zapote morado (Belize);
zapotillo (Mexico).

The chico is a fairly slow-growing, long-lived tree, upright and elegant, distinctly pyramidal when young; to 60 ft (18 m) high in the open but reaching 100 ft (30 m) when crowded in a forest.
It is strong and wind-resistant, rich in white, gummy latex. Its leaves are highly ornamental, evergreen, glossy, alternate, spirally clustered at the tips of the forked twigs; elliptic, pointed at both ends, firm, 3 to 4 1/2 in (7.5-11.25 cm) long and 1 to 1 1/2 in (2.5-4 cm) wide.
Flowers are small and bell-like, with 3 brown-hairy outer sepals and 3 inner sepals enclosing the pale-green corolla and 6 stamens. They are borne on slender stalks at the leaf bases. The fruit may be nearly round, oblate, oval, ellipsoidal, or conical; varies from 2 to 4 in (5-10 cm) in width. When immature it is hard, gummy and very astringent.
Though smooth-skinned it is coated with a sandy brown scurf until fully ripe. The flesh ranges in color from yellowish to light- or dark-brown or sometimes reddish-brown; may be coarse and somewhat grainy or smooth; becomes soft and very juicy, with a sweet flavor resembling that of a pear.
Some fruits are seedless, but normally there may be from 3 to 12 seeds which are easily removed as they are loosely held in a whorl of slots in the center of the fruit.
They are brown or black, with one white margin; hard, glossy; long-oval, flat, with usually a distinct curved hook on one margin; and about 1/4 in (2 cm) long.
 

Ciku

By Thulaja, Naidu Ratnala written on 1999-02-03
National Library Board Singapore

Comments on article: InfopediaTalk


Ciku (Manilkara sp.), a tropical fruit also known as sapodilla, belongs to the family Sapotaceae. Various species of Manilkara are grown and used worldwide for different purposes. The species most popular for its fruit in Singapore and Southeast Asia is the Manilkara zapota. This was also called Manilkara achras, Achras zapota or Nispero achras, a derivative of the Greek word achras for the Pear tree, because of the fruit's semblance to a pear.

Origins and distribution
Sapodilla is a Tucatan native of Central America, Mexico, Northeastern Guatemala and the West Indies, where it is a tall tree found in forests. Spanish colonialists brought a variety of Manilkara to Manila where it became known for its fruit. From the Philippines, it spread throughout Southeast Asia as a popular fruit tree. Various species of sapodilla are now cultivated in Africa, India, East Indies, Philippines, Malaysia, the tropics and sub-tropics of the Americas and they are found in almost all tropical countries worldwide. Ciku has around 75 related species across the globe although this tropical version is much shorter than its counterparts in Central America. They are used for various purposes such as for its fruit, wood or medicinal properties. Manilkara duplicata, also known as Mimosops globosa was introduced into the Singapore botanical gardens for its fruit and timber. In Malaysia, sapodilla is grown mainly in Terengganu, Pahang, Perak, Johor and Melaka. Germination is through seeds that remain viable for a few months. Grafting and marcotting is used to obtain cloned material.

Description
The ciku tree is evergreen, has a conical crown and can grow up to 30 m in height. Its bark is light-grey and becomes fissured with age. The plant with all its parts has a white latex. Young twigs of the plant are covered in a woolly layer. Its leaves are spirally arranged, dark green and pointed. It has a stalk measuring between one to three cm. Ciku flowers are white, fragrant, solitary and bisexual. They have six free sepals in two whorls on the outside. The petals are joined in a corolla tube with six lobes and six stamens and six staminodes. The ovary is superior and it has a single style. The flowers remain open even at night. The major flowering period for sapodilla in Singapore is in the month of May. Ciku fruits are brown, round or oblong, with a thin skin. The flesh is sweet, soft and reddish-brown. The fruits have very few seeds in them that are hard, black, elongated, flattened and shiny.

Usage and potential
Food
Sapodilla is usually consumed fresh. The fruit is commercialised for its flavour in sherbets, drinks, butter and ice-creams. It is also cooked to make pies, syrups, sauces, jams and is fermented to get wine or vinegar. In Indonesia, the young shoots are eaten either raw or after steaming with rice. The latex of the tree M.balata, that coagulates into what is known as chicle, formed the base for chewing gums before synthetic materials came to be used.

Medicine
In Java, sapodilla flowers are used in a powder with other ingredients that is rubbed on the stomach of women after child birth. The seeds, flowers and bark contain tannin and saponin with medicinal properties. The Malaya use the seeds in treating fever. Seeds are also diuretic. Unripe fruits are eaten to stop purging and to treat mild diarrhoea. The Chinese use the bark to treat diarrhoea.

Other uses
The gum-latex of the plant Manilkara balata is used in dental surgeries, in making transmission belts and as a substitute for gutta percha from Palaquium spp. for insulating electrical cables. The wood of Manilkara kauki and Manilkara duplicata is used to make furniture. Henry Ridley noted that Manilkara kauki timber was used in coffin making in Malaya.

Variant names
Common name: Ciku, sapodilla.
Scientific name: Manilkara zapota (older generic names: Achras zapota, Manilkara achras).
Malay names: Ciku, chiku (Malaysia), sawo manila, sawo londo (Indonesia).
Other common names: Naseberry, Chicle, sapodilla plum, chico, chiku, chico sapote.



 

Ciku
A native of Central America, Mexico and the West Indies,
Ciku fruit has undergone considerable cloning in Malaysia,
There are 3 main varieties of Ciku fruits in Malaysia :
1) betawi,
2) subang
3) jantung.
The flesh of the fine textured fruit has a deep-brownish hue. Looks like a brown egg, sweet brown flesh inside.
Distinctively sweet making it especially suitable as dressing for dessert.
Nutritionally, Ciku fruit contains high vitamin and mineral contents.
Ciku looks similar to a kiwi fruit except it has rusty skin. The fruit is yellowish to pinkish brown in colour when it is ripe. The shape is oblong or round depends on species.
A well grown ciku can be in a size of 5 to 10cm long. Unripe fruit has milky sap.

Agriculture