The Black Sapote

Probably on par with custard apples and the feijoa, the black sapote (Diospyros nigra) was probably the strangest Australian-grown un-Australian fruit we've had a chance to try.  Related to the persimmon, it's native to Mexico and Central America and we had never seen one before.

It looked like a gigantic green tomato, so soft when it was ripe that
the flesh would indent where you touched it.

(Unfortunately it was pretty dark so none of our pictures are very good.)

It came from Coffs Harbour, which is where we get pretty much all of our interesting fruit.  When we bought it looked like an enormous green tomato, and the woman at the market told us it would be ripe when it was soft and had turned darker in color.  She also warned us it would not be pretty.  And indeed it was not.  We had to wait a few weeks (this was actually about a month ago so our house was still pretty cool all the time) but when it did ripen, it was dark and soft, and when we cut it open it was so... gooey inside.

It's also called the chocolate pudding fruit, but that's more for the appearance and texture rather than the actual taste.  Reid and I both agreed it seems like the color and texture was the only part of it that had any semblance to chocolate pudding, and it had no chocolate taste whatsoever.  As far as the flavor goes, we thought it sort of tasted somewhere between an avocado and a persimmon.  Sweeter than an avocado, and maybe a little more bland than a persimmon.

"It's not something you should find in nature.  By which I mean, it's
not something you should find in nature and eat."

We haven't seen them back at the market (I'm sure they don't grow that many) but I'm not too inclined to try them again.  I prefer regular persimmons ... or custard apples, or feijoa.  Or mangoes.  We've been eating a lot more mangoes than ever before.  It's definitely on the list of Super Great Things About Australia.