From the book
Fruits of Warm Climates
by Julia F. Morton
Canistel
Pouteria campechiana Baehni
Pouteria campechiana var. nervosa Baehni
Pouteria campechiana var. palmeri Baehni
SAPOTACEAE
The canistel, Pouteria campechiana Baehni, has been the subject of much botanical confusion as is evidenced by its many synonyms: P. campechiana var. nervosa Baehni; P. campechiana var. palmeri Baehni; P. campechiana var. salicifolia Baehni; Lucuma campechiana HBK.; L. Heyderi Standl.; L. laeteviridis Pittier; L. multiflora Millsp. NOT A. DC.; L. nervosa A. DC.; L. palmeri Fernald; L. rivicoa Gaertn.; L. rivicoa var. angustifolia Miq.; L. salicifolia HBK.; Richardella salicifolia Pierre; Sideroxylon campestre T.S. Brandeg.; Vitellaria campechiana Engl.; V. salicfolia Engl.
It
is the showiest fruit of the family Sapotaceae but generally
underevaluated in horticultural literature and by those who have only a
casual acquaintance with it.
Colloquial names applied to this
species include: egg-fruit, canistel, ti-es, yellow sapote (Cuba,
Hawaii, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Bahamas, Florida); canistel, siguapa,
zapotillo (Costa Rica); costiczapotl, custiczapotl fruta de huevo,
zapote amarillo (Colombia); cakixo, canizte, kanis, kaniste,
hantzé, kantez, limoncillo, mamee ciruela, zapotillo de montana
(Guatemala); huevo vegetal (Puerto Rico, Venezuela); mammee sapota,
eggfruit, ti-es (Bahamas); mamey cerera, mamey cerilla, mamee ciruela,
kanizte (Belize); atzapotl (the fruit), atzapolquahuitl (the tree),
caca de niño, cozticzapotl, cucumu, mamey de Campechi, mamey de
Cartagena, huicumo, huicon, kan 'iste', kanixte, kanizte, palo huicon,
zapote amarillo, zapote de niño, zapote borracho (drunken
sapote, perhaps because the fallen fruits ferment on the ground);
zapote mante, zubul (Mexico); guaicume, guicume, zapotillo, zapotillo
amarillo (El Salvador); zapote amarillo (Nicaragua); boracho, canistel,
toesa (Philippines).
Plate LVI: CANISTEL, Pouteria campechiana
Description
The
canistel tree is erect and generally no more than 25 ft (8 m) tall, but
it may, in favorable situations, reach height of 90 to 100 ft (27-30 m)
and the trunk may attain diameter of 3 ft (1 m). Slender in habit or
with a spreading crown, it has brown, furrowed bark and abundant white,
gummy latex. Young branches are velvety brown. The evergreen leaves,
alternate but mostly grouped at the branch tips, are relatively thin,
glossy, short- to long-stemmed, oblanceolate, lanceolate-oblong, or
obovate, bluntly pointed at the apex, more sharply tapered at the base;
4 1/2 to 11 in (11.25-28 cm) long, 1 1/2 to 3 in (4-7.5 cm) wide.
Fragrant, bisexual flowers, solitary or in small clusters, are borne in
the leaf axils or at leafless nodes on slender pedicels. They are 5- or
6-lobed, cream-colored, silky-hairy, about 5/16 to 7/16 in (8-11 mm)
long.
The fruit, extremely variable in form and size, may be
nearly round, with or without a pointed apex or curved beak, or may be
somewhat oval, ovoid, or spindle-shaped. It is often bulged on one side
and there is a 5-pointed calyx at the base which may be rounded or with
a distinct depression. Length varies from 3 to 5 in (7.5-12.5 cm) and
width from 2 to 3 in (5-7.5 cm), except in the shrubby form, var. palmeri,
called huicon–4 to 9 ft (1.5-3 m) high–which has nearly
round fruits only 1 in (2.5 cm) long. When unripe the fruit is
green-skinned, hard and gummy internally. On ripening, the skin turns
lemon-yellow, golden-yellow or pale orange-yellow, is very smooth and
glossy except where occasionally coated with light-brown or
reddish-brown russetting.
Immediately beneath the skin the
yellow flesh is relatively firm and mealy with a few fine fibers.
Toward the center of the fruit it is softer and more pasty. It has been
often likened in texture to the yolk of a hard-boiled egg. The flavor
is sweet, more or less musky, and somewhat like that of a baked sweet
potato. There may be 1 to 4 hard, freestone seeds, 1/4 to 2 1/8 in
(2-5.3 cm) long and 1/2 to 1 1/4 in (1.25-3.2 cm) wide, near-oval or
oblong-oval, glossy and chestnut-brown except for the straight or
curved ventral side which is dull light-brown, tan or grayish-white.
Both ends are sharp-tipped.
Fig. 108: Glossy, yellow, long-keeping, highly nutritious, the canistel (Pouteria campechiana) deserves wider recognition as a good food.
Origin and Distribution
The
canistel is sometimes erroneously recorded as native to northern South
America where related, somewhat similar species are indigenous.
Apparently, it occurs wild only in southern Mexico (including Yucatan),
Belize, Guatemala and El Salvador. It is cultivated in these countries
and in Costa Rica (where it has never been found wild), Nicaragua and
Panama, Puerto Rico, Jamaica, Cuba (where it is most popular and
commercialized in Pinar del Rio), the Bahamas, southern Florida and the
Florida Keys. Some writers have reported the canistel as naturalized on
the Florida Keys, in the Bahamas and Cuba, but specimens that appear to
be growing in the wild are probably on the sites of former homesteads.
Oris Russell, who has explored hundreds of acres of coppices in the
Bahamas, has never seen the canistel or its close relative, P.
domingensis Baehni, in a wild state. He says that abandoned plantings
can be completely overgrown by coppice in 3 to 4 years. Also, it is
possible that a seedling might arise from the seed of a fruit carried
into the woods by an animal or tossed away by a human. Mango trees are
sometimes unintentionally planted in this way in southern Florida,
especially if the seed lands in a hedge which provides a moist and
shady site and physical protection.
Seeds from Cuba were planted
at the Lancetilla Experimental Garden, La Lima, Honduras, in 1927. Dr.
Victor M. Patiflo bought fruits in a Cuban market in 1957 and had the
seeds planted at the Estacion Agricola Experimental de Palmira,
Colombia. He reported that several trees were growing well there in
1963. The canistel is included in experimental collections in
Venezuela. The tree was introduced at low and medium elevations in the
Philippines before 1924 and it reached Hawaii probably around the same
time. Attempts to grow it in Singapore were not successful. In 1949
there were a few canistel trees growing in East Africa.
Varieties
There
are apparently no named cultivars but certain types are so distinct as
to have been recorded as different species in the past. The
spindle-shaped form (called mammee sapota or eggfruit) was the common
strain in the Bahamas for many years, at least as far back as the
1920's. The rounded, broader form began to appear in special gardens in
the 1940's, and the larger types were introduced from Florida in the
1950's.
In 1945, large, handsome, symmetrical fruits were being grown under the names Lucuma salicifolia
and yellow sapote at the Agricultural Research and Education Center and
at Palm Lodge Tropical Grove, Homestead, Florida, but these were soon
classified as superior strains of canistel. Some fruits are muskier in
odor and flavor than others, some are undesirably dry and mealy, some
excessively sweet. An excellent, non-musky, fine-textured, rounded type
of medium size has been selected and grown by Mr. John G. DuPuis, Jr.,
at his Bar-D Ranch in Martin County. It is well worthy of
dissemination. There is considerable variation as to time of flowering
and fruiting among seedling trees.
Climate
The
canistel needs a tropical or subtropical climate. In Guatemala, it is
found at or below 4,600 ft (1,400 in) elevation. In Florida, it
survives winter cold as far north as Palm Beach and Punta Gorda and in
protected areas of St. Petersburg. It has never reached fruiting age in
California. It requires no more than moderate precipitation; does well
in regions with a long dry season.
Soil
The
canistel is tolerant of a diversity of soils–calcareous,
lateritic, acid-sandy, heavy clay. It makes best vegetative growth in
deep, fertile, well-drained soil but is said to be more fruitful on
shallow soil. It can be cultivated on soil considered too thin and poor
for most other fruit trees.
Propagation
Canistel
seeds lose viability quickly and should be planted within a few days
after removal from the fruit. If decorticated, seeds will germinate
within 2 weeks; otherwise there may be a delay of 3 to 5 months before
they sprout. The seedlings grow rapidly and begin to bear in 3 to 6
years. There is considerable variation in yield and in size and quality
of fruits. Vegetative propagation is preferred in order to hasten
bearing and to reproduce the best selections. Side-veneer grafting,
cleft grafting, patch budding and air-layering are usually successful.
Cuttings take a long time to root.
Culture
Mulching
is beneficial in the early years. A balanced fertilizer applied at time
of planting and during periods of rapid growth is advisable though the
tree does not demand special care. Outstanding branches should be
pruned back to avoid wind damage and shape the crown.
Pests and Diseases
Few pests and diseases attack the canistel. In Florida only scale insects and the fungi, Acrotelium lucumae (rust); Colletotrichum gloeosporioides (fruit spot); Elsinoë lepagei (leaf spot and scab); and Gloeosporium (leaf necrosis) have been recorded for this species. The tree is nearly always vigorous and healthy.
Fruiting Season and Harvesting
Blooming
extends from January to June in Mexico (26). In Cuba, flowers are borne
mostly in April and May though some trees flower all year. The
canistel. has the advantage of coming into season in late fall and
winter, when few other tropical fruits are available. The fruits
generally mature from September to January or February in the Bahamas,
from November or December to February or March in Florida. In Cuba, the
main fruiting season is from October to February but some trees produce
more or less continuously throughout the year. The mature but still
firm fruits should be clipped to avoid tearing the skin. When left to
ripen on the tree, the fruits split at the stem end and fall. A severe
drop in temperature will cause firm-mature fruits to split and drop to
the ground.
Storage and Shipment
If
kept at room temperature, the fruits will soften to eating-ripe in 3 to
10 days. They should not be allowed to become too soft and mushy before
eating. Ripe fruits can be kept in good condition in the vegetable tray
of a home refrigerator for several days.
Freshly picked, hard
fruits have been successfully shipped from Florida to fruiterers and
other special customers in New York City and Philadelphia by Palm Lodge
Tropical Grove, Homestead.
Unfortunately, no studies have been
made to determine optimum temperature and humidity levels for long-term
storage and long-distant shipment. This is an ideal fruit for export to
European markets where its bright color, smoothness and appealing form
would be especially welcome in the winter season.
Food Uses
The
fact that the canistel is not crisp and juicy like so many other fruits
seems to dismay many who sample it casually. Some take to it
immediately. During World War II when RAF pilots and crewmen were under
training in the Bahamas, they showed great fondness for the canistel
and bought all they could, find in the Nassau market.
Some
Floridians enjoy the fruit with salt, pepper and lime or lemon juice or
mayonnaise, either fresh or after light baking. The pureed flesh may be
used in custards or added to ice cream mix just before freezing. A rich
milkshake, or "eggfruit nog", is made by combining ripe canistel pulp,
milk, sugar, vanilla, nutmeg or other seasoning in an electric blender.
The
late Mrs. Phyllis Storey of Homestead made superb 'mock-pumpkin" pie
with 1 1/2 cups mashed canistel pulp, 2/3 cup brown sugar, 1/2 teaspoon
salt, 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg, 1 teaspoon lime juice, 2 beaten eggs, 2 cups
evaporated milk or light cream. The mixture is poured into one crust
and baked for 1 hr at 250º F (121º C).
Others have
prepared canistel pancakes, cupcakes, jam, and marmalade. Mrs. Gladys
Wilbur made canistel "butter" by beating the ripe pulp in an electric
blender, adding sugar, and cooking to a paste, with or without lemon
juice. She used it as a spread on toast. The fruit could also be
dehydrated and reduced to a nutritious powder as is being done with the
lucmo (q.v.) and this might well have commercial use in pudding mixes.
Food Value
Canistels
are rich in niacin and carotene (provitamin A) and have a fair level of
ascorbic acid. The following analyses show that the canistel excels the
glamorized carambola (Averrhoa carambola L.) in every respect except in moisture and fiber content, and riboflavin.
| Food
Value Per
100 g of Edible Portion* |
| Calories |
138.8 |
| Moisture |
60.6 g |
| Protein |
1.68 g |
| Fat |
0.13 g |
| Carbohydrates |
36.69 g |
| Fiber |
0.10 g |
| Ash |
0.90 g |
| Calcium |
26.5 mg |
| Phosphorus |
37.3 mg |
| Iron |
0.92 mg |
| Carotene |
0.32 mg |
| Thiamine |
0.17 mg |
| Riboflavin |
0.01 mg |
| Niacin |
3.72 mg |
| Ascorbic Acid |
58.1 mg |
Amino Acids: |
|
| Tryptophan |
28 mg |
| Methionine |
13 mg |
| Lysine |
84 mg |
*According to analyses made at the Laboratorio FIM de
Nutricion in Havana. |
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Other Uses
Latex
extracted from the tree in Central America has been used to adulterate
chicle.
The timber is fine-grained, compact, strong, moderately to very
heavy and hard, and valued especially for planks and rafters in
construction.
The heartwood is grayish-brown to reddish-brown and
blends into the sapwood which is somewhat lighter in color. The darker
the color, the more resistant to decay.
Medicinal Uses:
A decoction of the astringent bark is taken as a febrifuge in Mexico
and applied on skin eruptions in Cuba. A preparation of the seeds has
been employed as a remedy for ulcers.
In 1971, a pharmaceutical company in California was exploring a derivative of the seed of Pouteria sapota
(mamey, q.v.) which seemed to be active against seborrheic dermatitis
of the scalp. Since they were having difficulty in procuring sufficient
seeds for study, I suggested that they test the more readily available
seeds of the canistel. They found these acceptable and were pursuing
the investigation when last heard from.
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