CHOCOLATE CAKE AH LA NATURAL

SCIENTIFIC NAME: Diospyros digyna
FAMILY: Ebenaceae

With the current interest being generated in exotic fruit, many Australians are wondering if they measure up where it counts, "the taste buds". Well, the experts assure us that they do. Fruits such as ice cream bean, chocolate pudding fruit conjure up a tasty treat.

In the exotic fruit-growing capital - Cairns, North Queensland - locals involved in growing these fruits are aware of their popularity and many have developed recipes using exotic fruit.

Mrs. Lois Christensen from Kewarra Beach, 20 km north of Cairns, developed recipes for making chocolate cake, chocolate mousse and chocolate ice cream, using the Black Sapote, commonly called the chocolate pudding fruit. Mrs. Christensen has two young daughters and a husband with a sweet tooth. She set out to combine natural fruits as traditional sweets. Now the family are converted to her recipes.

Photo of girl holding large black sapote.

When the Christensens moved to Cairns in 1981 from Tennant Creek in the Northern Territory, they were unaware that the home they purchased at Kewarra Beach had some of the rarest exotic fruits from South America and Asia planted there by the previous owner. However, within two years many of the trees started to bear fruit. It was then they realized what a bonanza they had on their half-acre. Exotic fruit trees such as grumichama cherry, mamey Americana, black sapote, purple star apple, exotic mango, lychee, Malay apple, Barbados cherry - hardly a month goes by that Mrs. Christensen can't put together a mouth-watering fruit salad straight from her garden.

For the sweet tooth, the chocolate pudding fruit, or black sapote, is a winner. It is a native of Central and South America and was introduced to Australia a decade ago. It thrives in the warm tropical climate of North Queensland. When ripe, the black sapote is 100 to 150 mm in diameter and is round in shape and green in colour. Once opened, a dark brown flesh is revealed, with a consistency of chocolate mousse.

A Sydney business woman with a flair for the unusual hosted a luncheon for her friends. She had a box of black sapote flown in for the occasion, and with a little rum liquor mixed in and topped with whipped cream, she treated them with a dessert which was the topic of conversation for weeks later.

We should see black sapote, along with many other exotic-tasting fruit, appearing on supermarket shelves in the near future. We don't know how many calories are in these fruits yet, but they would have to be ten points ahead of the more traditional fried sweets we know of.

Russell Francis - Photo/Journalist, Trinity Beach, Cairns
Photo: Russell Francis: 12-year-old Narelle Christensen
Pictured with a 1kg Black Sapote "Chocolate Pudding Fruit"

DATE: September 1985

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