Season For Jocotes!

Jocotes

As you walk through the mercado after living here for some time, you start to notice that new fruits that are now in season are being sold and others you were used to are not. For example, I used to see red bananas called "Majunches" all over the place and then all of a sudden there are Papayas everywhere!

Red Banana (Majunche) and Yellow Banana

Now it's the season for Jocotes. This is a Latin American fruit and I remember in my youth, since I grew up in Southern California and made frequent trips to Mexico, we would bring back with us frozen Jocotes which became my favorite fruit in the entire world! So naturally, I got excited when I would go to Guatemala and eat some Jocotes. They are small and round that are red, green, or yellow in color. The redder they are, the juicier and sweeter it tastes. If you eat a green one, it will be drier leaving you with a cotton-mouth feeling which may not make a good first impression on you. So before you try one, make sure it's red or at least on the orange side. The flesh looks exactly like a mango and there's a big seed in the middle. In fact to me, they are a mix between tiny mangoes and plums. Because the fruit is so small, you don't get much flesh when eating it. So you end up eating a handful. If you eat red ones be careful, they're really juicy! In fact that's what inspired this entry. I was eating juicy red Jocotes that I bought in El Progresso, Jutiapa a few days ago where they were selling them in buckets full and decided a little education on this delicious fruit was necessary.

Jocotes of all different colors

A Jocote not eaten next to a half eaten Jocote

According to several different sources, including Wikipedia, the Jocote is related to the cashew fruit. Now, prior to me moving to Guatemala I was unaware that cashews, the nuts, were part of a fruit.

Cashew Fruit & Nuts

Spondias purpurea , the scientific name of the fruit, is a species of flowering plant in the cashew family, Anacardiaceae, that is native to tropical regions of the Americas. It is most commonly known as Jocote, which derives from the Nahuatl word xocotl, meaning "fruit." Other common names include Red Mombin, Purple Mombin, Hog Plum, Sineguela, and Siriguela. The fruits are often eaten ripe, with or without the skin. It is sometimes eaten unripe with salt and vinegar or lime juice. The single large seed, which takes up most of the fruit, is not eaten.

The health benefits of Jocotes are:

• Low in calories and saturated fats
• High in dietary fiber
• Good source of Vitamins A and C
• High in potassium, iron, and other essential minerals

Next time you are in Guatemala, make it a point to try some Jocotes if you see some, especially since the dry season (October - May) is the season for Jocotes. And now with all this typing about the fruit I think I'll go eat some more.