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Lucuma fruits, unlike most fruits, are rich in starch and relatively dry. They are often used as a basic food and can be dried into flour that is easily stored and can provide a tasty treat even years later. (ProChile)

The dried, ground pulp is prepared in small factories in Chile and Peru, but this easily transportable powder should be suitable both for expanded home processing and for increased commercial use. Export markets could develop in the United States, Japan, and other affluent societies looking for new flavors for dessert foods. Already, Chile is shipping lucuma to Switzerland, where the fruit is used to flavor ice cream. It is said that the flavor cannot be reproduced artificially. ⁴

Other Developing Areas. Except for plantations in Costa Rica, the species is virtually unknown in commercial production outside South America. Plantings should be tried in other dry and frost-free highland areas of the tropics and subtropics. It seems likely to become useful in parts of Mexico, Central America, Brazil, and Central and southern Africa.

Industrialized Regions. Lucuma has been tested on a backyard scale outside Latin America. It yielded satisfactorily in Hawaii, but so far has produced only poor-quality fruit in Florida. Some trees in California did well at first, but were eventually frozen out. Trials are now under way in Queensland, Australia, and the plant has shown early promise in sheltered frost-free sites in northern New Zealand.