Mamey?

Monday, 5-16-11

I first learned about the fruit called mamey during Secretary’s Day at school. We were eating lunch when some kind of juice was set in front of me. I asked what it was to which the director replied, “mamey.” Well, I had no idea what that was. After I asked exactly what it was he wrote down the word for me. Then he explained to me that it was a fruit you had to “peel” open to get to the pulp.

When I got home I searched for the fruit on the internet but didn’t have much luck. I found a few pictures but when I asked Cecilia about them she told me the picture was something else (a sapote). A lot of fruits here seem to be similar and related plus the names of fruits can change depending on what country you’re in or where you are in Latin America. I wrote down the name but thought I was out of luck in figuring out what it was.

These are called sapotes here, but this is what I found

 when I did a Google search for mamey

 My second encounter with mamey fruit was at Cecilia’s house while we were there to do the rosary. I walked into the kitchen area and saw Idalia cutting some kind of fruit. When I asked what it was she responded, “mamey.” Yay! I finally got to see what mamey looked like. I got a picture of the inside of the fruit and they also showed me what a whole mamey looked like. It was a part of the fresco that we were making with lots of other fruit. A fresco is a drink made with fruit pieces, water, and sugar.

When we went to do the rosary at Blanca’s house I saw that they had a couple mameys sitting on the table. I asked Blanca’s dad if they were mameys (just to double check). He said they were and asked if I liked them. When I told him I did he offered me two of them. Now I was really excited. I gave him a hug and said I was going to make a fresco with them.

Mamey sighting

Idalia cutting up a mamey

So today I decided that I was going to make the fresco. Cecilia and Kathy were on their way out so Mauricio explained how to peel the mamey. You quarter the fruit just below the skin. Then you peel back the thick skin which is about ¼ inch wide. Next you take a knife and slice off the top layer of the fruit just under the skin which is whitish and stringy.

At that point I took a knife and started cutting off small pieces like you would if you were slicing mango pulp off the seed. This is how I’d seen Idalia doing it in Alejandría. Cecilia came into the kitchen on her way out and told me it’d be easier to use a grater (like a cheese grater). So I started grating the pulp off the large seed onto a plate. There wasn’t a whole lot of flesh inside the mamey. There were actually three seeds inside this mamey which are large, just like the seed or pit inside mangos.

Soon I’d shredded off as much pulp as I could. I got the other mamey and repeated the process with it. Once I had all the pulp in a bowl I dumped it into a pitcher. I didn’t know for sure what the proportions were for water and sugar so I just guessed. I ended up filling the entire pitcher with water and adding about a half cup of sugar. I put it in the fridge to sit for a while to let the water become saturated with the flavor.

A couple hours later I took the pitcher out of the fridge and poured myself a glass. It was delicious!! I liked eating the little mamey bits in the drink. I’m not sure how to describe the taste. All I can think of is that it tastes a little like mangos but less mango-y. That doesn’t really make any sense. You’ll just have to try one yourself sometime! Now all I need to see what they look like growing on the tree. That will be my next quest.

A whole mamey next to a peeled one

Messy hands

This mamey had three seeds

Delicious!

Nice and pulpy

The only picture I found on the internet of a mamey