The next time you go to the fruit shop, do not forget to bring home a bunch of zapotas. Commonly known as chikoo in most parts of the world, Manilkara Zapota is a sweet fruit mainly grown in Central America, southern Mexico, south Asian countries and the Caribbean region. This juicy, soft calorie loaded fruit deserves to be in your fruit basket. The other names for chikoo are sapodilla, sapota, mudapple and so on. It is a seasonal fruit found twice every year.

Chikoo consists of a brown coloured skin on the outside and a light brown soft and juicy pulp. Each fruit consists of six or less hard, black seeds. The flavour of the fruit is somewhat malty and very sweet. Zapota must be eaten only when it is ripe and soft as the unripe fruit contains saponin, which can dry out your mouth. An average fruit measures about 4-8 cm. 100gm of the fruit consists of 83kcal of energy. The fruit is rich in carbohydrates and is a great energy fruit. Zapota is now eaten throughout the world, and it can be found in fruit baskets UK also.

The fruit zapota has many health benefits and hence preferred by people all over. Here are some nutritive values of the fruit –

• As the fruit has sufficient fibre content, it aids in the process of digestion. Zapota is rich in dietary fibre content. If you have indigestion or constipation, you now know which fruit to eat.
• It also contains minerals such as copper, potassium, iron, folate, pantothenic acid and niacin. These help the metabolic body activities.
• There are several vitamins such as vitamin A, vitamin B complex, vitamin C and vitamin E in Zapota. These nourish your skin and hair. It is also beneficial for your lungs and heart. The antioxidants also boost your immunity.
• Zapota protects the inner lining of the mucous membrane of your colon.
• The tannins found in zapota have anti inflammatory properties reducing gastritis, enteritis, reflux esophagitis and other gastric disorders.
• Chikoo is good in treating cough and congestion.
• The diuretic nature of chikoo helps you rid body’s waste products through frequent urination. It thus avoids water retention. If you want to get rid of kidney and bladder stones, then eat the crushed zapota seeds.
• Zapota is very good for lactating mothers as it has all the essential nutrients. It is also good during pregnancy to overcome nausea and dizziness.
• The calcium, iron and phosphorous in zapota can strengthen your bone.
• As it is an easily digestible food, it can be eaten by children as well as adults.
• Its haemostatic property helps in preventing blood loss in piles cases.
• Eating zapota during diarrhoea can be useful as it has purgative properties.
• Zapota is a good detoxifying fruit, and it can lend a helping hand in weight loss regimes.
• Due to its high latex content, zapota can cure tooth cavities.

Although the fruit has so many health benefits, eating it in limits is important as the fruit contains high amount of carbohydrates. One zapota a day can be very nutritive and healthy too.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 22nd, 2016 at 9:41 am and is filed under Fruits Basket. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.