| Jocote | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| clade: | Angiosperms |
| clade: | Eudicots |
| clade: | Rosids |
| Order: | Sapindales |
| Family: | Anacardiaceae |
| Subfamily: | Spondiadoideae |
| Genus: | Spondias |
| Species: | S. purpurea |
| Binomial name | |
| Spondias purpurea L. |
|
Spondias purpurea is a species of flowering plant in the cashew family, Anacardiaceae, that is native to tropical regions of the Americas. It is most commonly known as Jocote, which derives from the Nahuatl word xocotl, meaning "fruit." [1] Other common names include Red Mombin, Purple Mombin, Hog Plum, Sineguela, and Siriguela.
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It is a small to medium-sized tree up to 25 feet tall. The leaves are deciduous in the short dry season, but only fall shortly before the new leaves develop; they are pinnate, with 7-23 leaflets, each leaflet 3-5 cm long and 1.5-2 cm broad. The flowers are small, reddish-purple, produced in large panicles. The fruit is an edible oval drupe, 3-5 cm long and 2-3.5 cm broad, ripening red (occasionally yellow) and containing a single large seed.
It is now widely cultivated in tropical regions throughout the world for its edible fruit, and is also naturalised in some areas, including the Philippines and Nigeria. Numerous cultivars have been selected for fruit quality. It is also abundant in Central America.
The fruits are often eaten ripe, with or without the skin. It is sometimes eaten unripe with salt and vinegar or lime juice.
In Haiti, it is known under the name of 'siwèl' and spread throughout the mountainous areas of the country, mostly in the northern and southern mountain ranges.
One typical dish in Salvadoran cuisine consists of a syrup made of panela, jocote and mango.
The single large seed, which takes up most of the fruit, is not eaten.
The "Pacto del Jocote", peace treaty was signed in Costa Rica on April 11, 1842 under a Jocote tree in Alajuela between Francisco Morazan and Vicente Villaseñor overturning the government of Braulio Carrillo.