Of black sapote, bandicoots and the North Head Nursery
John, Black Sapote (donated by Antoinette), Antoinette, Paul
This Friday we planted two Black Sapote – Bernicker - given as a gift to our road gardens by Antoinette and purchased by her from Daley’s Fruit Nursery; their web page says of this fruit tree:
Black Sapote – Bernicker
This Chocolate Pudding fruit variety has proved very popular in Australia. The near spherical fruit is medium to large with only 1 or 2 seeds. Superb eating quality and prolific producer.
Not surprisingly this is one of our most popular fruits and if you like Chocolate you’ll love Black Sapote. Commonly known as Chocolate Pudding Fruit this amazing fruit is low in fat and an excellent source of Vitamin C containing about 4 times as much as an orange. The fruit is delicious eaten fresh or used as a chocolate substitute in recipes and milkshakes or simply mix the pulp with yogurt and lemon juice for a refreshing treat. Fruits can be cut in half and eaten covered in passion fruit, in Mexico the pulp is mashed with orange juice or brandy and served with cream, it is also delicious mixed with wine, cinnamon and sugar.
The green fruit is picked when hard and allowed to soften and go brown within 3-6 days. At the ripe stage – you should be able to press the skin with your fingers and leave an indent. A very close relative of the persimmon the black sapote is a Chocoholics dream come true!
North Head nursery and worker, Sue Halmagyi
Last Sunday Kathy showed me the North Head native plants nursery over at Manly. Situated in the middle of the reserve there and among old military buildings, the nursery’s benches are reused fencing from a school. Very impressive reuse. The intrepid worker shown here is one of many volunteers growing native plants to plant in the reserve.
Where did most opposition come from to the new nursery and the replanting program?
Bureaucrats who run national parks said the new plants would be eaten by the bandicoots and would increase their numbers or reduce them by reducing their foraging areas.
Fortunately, cameras used to monitor the comings and goings of bandicoots show they prefer the introduced grass lawn and other military residue to the native plants and are happier with the greater biodiversity the nursery is bringing. The nursery and the bush is doing much better now.
Sometimes I wonder if we need bureaucrats.
But only once a day.
Ahh, citizens, let’s go forth and plant and grow as much as we can.
M
black sapote makes fantastic ice cream..and wonderful in smoothies
John and I are long-term readers and fans of Earth Garden and Grass Roots magazines, and have tried to put into practice many of the tips and ideas from them, so we were delighted to make a small contribution to the greening of Chippendale.
We were inspired to see the transformation of this small pocket of inner Sydney from harsh, hot, grey bitumen and brick into a cool, earthy, leafy, green and inviting urban environment. The positive psychological effect on the community must be enormous. We particularly love the idea of community compost bins being used to maintain and nourish the gardens. We are definitely going to push this idea with our own local Sustainability Groups.