Granola with black sapote puree

The black sapote is a popular tropical fruit in Mexico, and it’s a funny-looking thing when it’s completely ripe. The hard green skin turns soft, dimply, and sunken-in in parts. It looks like a shrunken head, kind of.

After cutting it open, the flesh resembles dark-chocolate brownie batter. It’s glossy and wet and easy to scoop out with a spoon.

I bought a sapote (pronounced “sah-POE-tay” in Spanish; locally they’re known as zapote negro) for the first time last week at the tianguis, figuring I’d think of something fun to do with it. It supposedly makes a great tart filling, jazzed up with a little lime juice. But I nixed that idea, since we were leaving for Tulum in a few days.

Then I remembered a granola recipe I’d seen on David Lebovitz’s site not too long ago. The recipe called for mixing the oats with an apple or pear puree. Why not substitute sapote? I’d tasted some at Alice’s house, and it had a mild, lightly sweet flavor. And we could eat our granola on the beach.

So I put my little dimply sapote on a plate, and took a picture of it, because it was so round and cute.

And then I cut it open and scooped out the flesh. Didn’t I tell you it looks like brownie batter? Or pudding? Its other name is the “chocolate pudding fruit.” The sapote is in the persimmon family, by the way.

I pureed the flesh with a spoon — with entailed about five seconds of stirring on my part — and then mixed that with a bit of oil and agave honey. (Agave honey isn’t as sweet regular honey, and I wanted to err on the side of caution.) Added pumpkin seeds, sliced almonds, oats, cinnamon and a few other spices. Also discovered a forgotten bag of sucanat in the back of my pantry, so I used that instead of regular sugar, since I was being experimental and all. (Sucanat is a pebbly, unrefined cane sugar, with more of a molasses-y taste than regular brown sugar.)

Spread it all onto a baking sheet and just about died while it cooked. The house filled with this warm, spicy-sweet smell of toasted oats and cinnamon. Desperately wanted to Twitter: “I cannot wait to try my black sapote puree granola!” but then I thought that’d be lame, so I kept my giddiness to myself. (Actually, I think I emailed Alice, because she was the one who told me she loved black sapote in the first place.)

After it cooled, it tasted just as fabulous as I’d hoped: slightly sweet, nutty, crunchy. The spices and the sapote mixed together beautifully — nothing overpowered anything else, while at the same time, it all seemed like it was somehow meant to go together. Crayton tried a handful after I made him and then went back for seconds, and thirds.

I’d like to say I’m open-minded and that I’d try this granola with another type of fruit puree, but right now I’m so in love that I can’t. What if another fruit transforms my granola into a sickly sweet mess? Right now, it’s black sapote for me or bust.

Granola with pumpkin seeds, almonds and black zapote puree
Adapted from David Lebovitz’s Top Granola post
Makes about 5 cups

Ingredients

1 medium black zapote, equal to 1/4 c. plus 2 tablespoons black zapote puree
2 1/2 c. oats
1/2 c. pepitas, unsalted
1/4 c. sucanat, or sweetener of your choice
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 c. honey
1 tablespoon vegetable oil

Preheat the oven to 175C or 300F. Cut open your zapote, scoop out the flesh into a bowl, and puree lightly with a spoon. (It should have a lumpy-pudding like consistency.) Set aside. In another bowl, whisk together oats, pepitas, sucanat, cinnamon, ground ginger and sea salt, until well combined.

In a small saucepan, gently warm the puree, honey and oil together. Add the warm puree sauce to the oat mixture, and mix well. Spread on an ungreased baking sheet and cook for 50 minutes or until deep golden brown, stirring every 10 minutes to ensure even browning. Cool on a rack. When it’s completely cooled, store in an airtight container. Resist the urge to stuff handfuls in your mouth.