Chiku is the most delicious fruit of an American tropical ever-green and long-lived tree Sapota Arachis L. It is also popularly called as Sapota, Sapodilla and Zapota.
It is a member of family Sapotaceae and fruits abundantly. It is native to the eastern Mexico, Central American rain-forest and the Caribbean.
The important Chiku growing countries in the world are: India, Africa, Thailand, the West Indies, Indonesia, Tropical America, Bangladesh, the Bahamas and the southern Florida.
In Pakistan, Chiku is cultivated in the coastal areas of Balochistan viz, Hub, Kathore and Windor. In Sindh, it is cultivated in Karachi, Malir, Thatta, Hyderabad, Nawabshah and Mirpurkhas districts.
Only 2 varieties are under cultivation, i.e. Oval and the Round. The Oval variety has an edge over the Round and is more sweet and fragrant.
The Chiku plant flowers all over the year and fruits twice a year once from May to September and again from December to March.
On ripening the fruit skin turns brown and the fruit becomes a bit soft with 3-4 seeds embedded in the pulp which are easily separated from the flesh, when the flesh of the fruit is scooped out with a spoon.
The milky latex also starts disappearing as the fruit is ripening. Chiku is a table fruit and is served as a dessert. It also flavours cold drinks, milk-shakes, confectionaries, cakes, jams, jellies, ice-cream and snacks.
Chiku also provides raw material for the manufacture of industrial glucose and is canned like the pineapple slices.
Chiku is a big fruit crop in many countries of the world. But in Pakistan it is cultivated as a small fruit crop. Chiku research is in the "offing" in Sindh, where the research has given encouraging results.