Cultivation

Although the chicozapote tree provides many uses, it is primarily used today for the production of its fruit. The primary producer in the world today is India, with Mexico a distant second. Chicozapote is also grown in Florida, the Caribbean, the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and Sri Lanka, but not to the extent that it is grown in India (Chadha 1992, Pennington 1990). The fruit is primarily consumed in the countries of origin, but demand for the fruit in other countries is growing. Some of the best chicozapote fruits grown in Thailand are slated for export to Europe (Pennington 1990). The fruit is mainly eaten fresh (Morton 1987, Lakshminarayana 1980), although it is also used in shakes, ice cream, jams and even wine (Kute and Shete 1995, Morton 1987). The seeds of the fruit have been studied for their use as an oil source (Chin and Nushirwan 1990). The oil extracted from the seeds is high in saturated fats, but low production prevents widespread use for this purpose.