Naseberry

noun NAYZ-ber-ri ˈneːzbɛri

Also spelled nasberry, neaseberry, sapodilla

The sapodilla — a small, round, rough brown-skinned fruit with sweet, soft, grainy brown flesh that tastes of caramel, brown sugar, and pear. It grows on a large, hardy tree and is eaten ripe and yielding, when the flesh turns melting and honey-sweet; picked too soon it is hard and unpalatable. A much-loved Jamaican fruit, the naseberry is enjoyed straight from the hand, and its tree also yields the latex once used to make chewing gum.

  • Di naseberry sweet when it soft.

    The naseberry is sweet when it's soft.

  • Wi have a big naseberry tree a yard.

    We have a big naseberry tree in the yard.

  • Nuh eat di naseberry before it ripe.

    Don't eat the naseberry before it's ripe.

From the Spanish 'níspero', a name for the sapodilla and related fruits, adapted in Jamaican to 'naseberry'.

A beloved country fruit, best eaten when fully ripe and soft; hard naseberries are unpleasantly gummy.