Chesa/Tiesa fruit

Pouteria Campechiana

Chesa or tiesa is one of the exotic tropical fruits that you need to get used to eating for its is an acquired taste. Not saying it has a bad taste, it actually taste like a boiled sweet potato and taste sweet too but when you bite it, it feels dry to the mouth and would be crumbly. And like sweet potato its full of Vit. A.

I remember growing up at my grandparents house in Iba, Zambales. It is sorrounded by fruits trees like kaymito, jackfruits, anonas, tamarind, chicos, atis, and tiesa of course. They even have mabolo but that’s a different story.

Tiesa, like other tropical fruits, must have been introduced by the Spaniards. It is native to Central America and belongs to the family of Sapote like chico, etc.

The tree grows to 25 feet and have dark, green leaves that are clustered at the tip.

The fruit starts green and turn golden yellow in color when ripe. I enjoyed eating Tiesa when I was a kid. It’s like eating boiled eggs, dry and crumbly but sweet.