Canistel (Pouteria campechiana, also called eggfruit or yellow sapote) is an evergreen fruit tree from southern Mexico and Central America, grown in warm tropical and subtropical areas. It needs warmth and a frost-free site to fruit well.
Family
Sapotaceae (Sapot family)
Grows as
Tree
Light
Full sun
Water
Water deeply during dry spells and let the top few centimetres of soil dry out between waterings.
Soil
Well-drained loamy soil; tolerates a range of soil types.
Temperature
Warm conditions suited to tropical and subtropical climates; protect from frost, which can damage young trees.
How easy
Moderate
Safety
Not known to be toxic
Edible
Yes, some parts
About
Pouteria campechiana (commonly known as the cupcake fruit, eggfruit, zapote amarillo, yellow sapote or canistel) is an evergreen tree native to, and cultivated in, southern Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, and El Salvador. It is cultivated in other countries, such as India, Costa Rica, Brazil, the United States, the Dominican Republic, Australia, Cambodia, Vietnam, Taiwan, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Nigeria, Cameroon and the Philippines. The edible part of the tree is its fruit, which is colloquially known as an egg fruit.
The canistel grows up to 10 m (33 ft) high, and produces orange-yellow fruit up to 7 cm (3 in) long, which are edible raw. Canistel flesh is sweet, with a texture often compared to that of a hard-boiled egg yolk, hence its colloquial name "eggfruit". It is closely related to the lúcuma, mamey sapote, and abiu.
Uses
Like the related lúcuma, the canistel can be eaten fresh, and has the texture of a hard-boiled egg yolk. The ripe fruit can be made into jam, marmalade, pancakes, and flour. The ripe flesh is blended with milk and other ingredients to make a shake, and pureed, it is sometimes added to custards or used in making ice cream. It is also used in a milkshake known as "eggfruit nog".
[Contains information from Leaf Area Index (LAI) and Heritage Trees from data.gov.sg (National Parks Board), made available under the terms of the Singapore Open Data Licence version 1.0]
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Pouteria campechiana by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.