Sapodilla (nispero) video from Lara Farms in Homestead, Florida

Sapodilla (nispero) video, with Pablo Lara of Lara Farms in Homestead, Florida, in Spanish, with English translation below:



"Pablo Lara: Today we are going to be working with Nispero (sapodillas). Well, this cultivar, called Molix, has a good size when it comes to Nisperos and has a resemblance of mamey. It comes from the area of Central America. We are content with this variety and we are not sure how tall this cultivar can get. As it goes getting large, we will go trimming it, so it can stay low. We have a fruit now that is ripe and ready to eat which we are going to cut to see the coloration of the flesh. This is also a nispero which has been ordered more often, because it is large and very beautiful. This fruit has a wondeful coloration which reminds us of the mamey colorado (mamey sapote). This is the only variety that has this specific coloration. Now, I'm going to try it to see how it tastes: Very delicious "sabroso".

Now, this is a variety called Morena, which is from Central America like all Nispero. We are very content with this variety cause it bares a lot of fruit and it can be maintained at a certain height to make the task of picking the fruit easier. Now, if you abandon it and let the tree grow on its own, then it can get up to 20 feet. In that case, things can get complicated since the fruit are harder to reach. We are going to harvest a fruit to see how it looks inside. Lets go and cut it to see the quality, color, etc... Look how beautiful. Very nice color. It's a precious color. Half red, half caramel color. I'm going to try it Julian (his son). Very tasty.

Julian Lara: Better than the Nispero growing in Miami (seedling trees)?

Pablo Lara: Better than the common Nispero, which are the round ones that have 4 to 6 seeds. These are nispero with 2 seeds, some with 1.

This is another cultivar that is called Hasya, which is one of the bigger ones and one of the better ones. It has fame and like always, it has been mentioned that it is from Central America and has been introduced. We are very content with this variety of Nispero or Sapodilla which is the way you say it in English. The fruit has a nice form/shape. The elongated nispero are always much better than the round ones since it has more flesh and less seeds. A lot of people order this variety cause it is very well-liked. Now, we are going to harvest one and cut it to see how it looks inside. This one also has coloration, which is yellowish-reddish and has abundant flesh. It barely has any seeds. Lets taste it to see how it is: mmmmmmm really tastey.

Julian Lara: You like that one better than the rest?

Pablo Lara: Yes. Very tastey.

Julian Lara: Better than Morena?

Pablo Lara: Yes, its better than Morena. It has a finer texture than Morena.

This variety is called Tikal, which is named after the pyramids in the region of Central America. These came from seeds brought in from Central America and grown in an experimental agriculture field in Homenstead. They planted out lots of seeds, resulting in hundreds of trees. During this process, they went observing each variety until they found this variety, which was one of the better ones. That's when they named it Tikal after the pyramids. The fruit is elongated and has a tendency to produce lots of fruit. In fact, when it has less fruit, the fruits themselves tend to be bigger. But, since it tends to bare lots of fruit, the fruit size tends to be smaller. This tree has already given a lot of fruit and keeps being one of the better varieties, due to it's fine texture. The color of the pulp is not the prettiest, but its clean and has good quality. The tree has a tendency to grow tall. In other words, when you plant it, the tree will keep growing taller and taller until it gets too tall. So, when it reaches a certain height; lets just say 12-15 feet, you should trim it and maintain it at that height. That way, the tree will start to grow wider. Lets get a Tikal fruit. Now we are going to see the color that it has. We already talked about the characteristics of the tree, its history, and where it came from. This is the color of Tikal. I like this fruit very much, but I don't know if its the first good fruit I had over here. At least the one I recognized. But, its a beauty. The fruit is elongated and has an even color through out the flesh."