Jocote

Sharp thin-skinned fruit turned to juice is the roadside version, always oversweetened to match.

It hardly needs it, but a squeeze pushes an already tart fruit fully into citrus territory.

Muddled whole, skin and stone left in briefly for colour, a regional swap for the caipirinha lime.

Fat calms a fruit that on its own is nearly all sharp skin and juice.

Blended into a milkshake, the tartness cuts the sweetness the way a mango milkshake never does.

Salt and heat on the raw fruit, a street habit borrowed from the mango cart next to it.

Warm root against a fruit whose acid arrives before the sweetness does.

Smoke against sharp stone-fruit skin, treated like the salted plums sold beside the bottle.

Tart fruit sauce cutting rendered fat, the same trick apple plays with pork, done sharper.