Plant · P-508

Canistel

Pouteria campechiana

Canistel is a tropical tree grown for an orange-yellow fruit whose soft, mealy flesh is very sweet and rich - closer in texture to a cooked egg yolk or baked sweet potato than to a juicy fruit, which is why much of the crop goes into custards, ice cream, milkshakes and baked goods rather than being eaten out of hand. Winter cold is what limits it: mature trees are damaged or killed once temperatures drop into the low 20s Fahrenheit, though it can still fruit under cover or in a large container where open-ground winters run colder than that. It self-sows readily where the climate suits it, and seedlings coming up under the canopy or along drainage lines are easily grazed or mown out.