Canistel

Sometimes called eggfruit, canistel is a surprisingly underutilized Florida fruit. The fruit is a striking yellow-gold color, and may have a pointed blossom end, or be round. In the latter case, it is often called Ross sapote. It ranges from a few ounces to over a pound.

Canistel is one of the fruits that must become very, very ripe to achieve best flavor. Very rich, with a unique flavor, it’s excellent when whipped with a bit of coconut milk. High-quality cultivars are creamy and sweet— but not overpoweringly so. Some fruit, especially from seedlings, can be dry and not as sweet, but even then it adds a nice flavor to smoothies. Fruits have one to four large seeds that are easily removed.

The canistel tree is an attractive evergreen, about as cold-tolerant as a mango. Like many of the higher-calorie fruits, it takes a few years for young trees to produce, but it’s worth the wait.

At SweetSong, we have six canistel trees: NW-A-8 (Trompo), NW-B-4 (Trompo, with one large branch reworked to Oro), NW-D-1 (Ross), SW-F-2 (Fairchild #2), SW-G-1 (Ross) and EG-E-2 (Trompo).