In brief
A subtropical tree of the citrus family from the Mexican highlands. Its green to yellow fruit has a soft, creamy white flesh that tastes of banana and pear.
- Botanical name
- Casimiroa edulis (Rutaceae)
- Origin
- highlands of central Mexico
- Growth
- mostly evergreen tree, 4.5 to 18 m
- Cold
- young -1 °C, established about -5 °C
- Water
- fairly drought-resistant once rooted
- Food forest layer
- medium to tall tree
- Harvest
- mostly summer to autumn
- Caution
- raw seeds are toxic
- At Sa Medada
- potted, has wintered outdoors
What is white sapote?
White sapote is a subtropical fruit tree from the rue family, the same family as oranges and lemons. Its name links it only by sound to the black sapote and the mamey sapote; "sapote" was used in Mexico for several soft, sweet fruits. Botanically it is Casimiroa edulis, sometimes confused with the closely related Casimiroa sapota.
The fruit is round to oval, often faintly five-lobed, with a thin green to yellow skin. Inside lies a soft, creamy, white or pale yellow flesh around one to six large seeds. Ripe, it is sweet and mild, and descriptions usually reach for banana, pear and vanilla.
Origin and growth
White sapote is native to central Mexico, where it grows wild and in gardens, usually at about 600 to 900 m above sea level and in Guatemala occasionally up to about 2,700 m, in regions without heavy rainfall. That origin explains its character: it is a highland tree of the subtropics, not a lowland tree of the tropics.
According to Morton the tree reaches 4.5 to 6 m in its smaller forms and 9 to 18 m in its larger ones, with light grey, warty bark and long, drooping branches. The leaves are mostly evergreen and palmately compound, usually with five leaflets. The small greenish-yellow flowers appear in panicles; in California some varieties flower twice a year.
Requirements
White sapote is one of the hardiest of the so-called tropical fruits. The California Rare Fruit Growers give about -5.5 °C as the limit for established trees and about -1 °C for young ones; light frosts cause leaf drop. Morton calls it fairly drought-resistant. It adapts to sandy loam and clay as long as drainage is good, and on limestone it can become chlorotic. It does poorly in very hot deserts and in humid tropical lowlands. The flowers and young fruit are its weak point: in a Japanese study fruit set failed in years with minimum temperatures below about -2.5 °C.
Fruit, use and harvest
In Mexico the tree flowers in January and February, and the fruit ripens from June to October. Fruit is picked fully grown but firm, cut with a short stem, and softens indoors within a few days. It is eaten fresh with a spoon or blended into drinks and ice cream; the skin is bitter.
The seeds are a serious caution: Morton notes that they are said to be fatally toxic if eaten raw. They are never eaten, and fallen fruit should not be left for children or animals.
In the food forest
In a food forest white sapote grows into a medium to tall tree and can form part of the upper tree layer. Its drooping branches and mostly evergreen crown shade the ground well. Because it bears heavily and drops a lot of fruit, it belongs away from paths and seating, ideally in a part of the garden where windfall can feed the soil. A deep mulch layer protects the root zone in the dry season. A second variety nearby improves pollination.
In the Mediterranean climate
White sapote has a longer history in Mediterranean-type climates than most subtropical fruits. Franciscan missionaries brought it to California around 1810, where it still grows on a small scale in the south and fares best near the coast. Morton mentions plantings along the Riviera. In Israel, trials from around 1935 produced healthy trees but small harvests on the coastal plain and good crops inland; in the end the fruit found few buyers and drew fruit flies. Fruit flies are therefore a risk to watch wherever they are common. The tree's frost tolerance makes it a candidate for climate-adapted planting, but a late frost during flowering can cost a whole season's crop. White sapote is not on the EU list of invasive alien species.
Propagation and care
Seedlings bear only after seven or eight years; grafted trees after three or four. Grafting in summer is the usual method, and cuttings root poorly. Young trees often grow a single limber stem in the first years and need staking. Pruning keeps the tree low enough to harvest.
How Terra Humana understands it
White sapote is one of the exotic fruit trees at Sa Medada with a realistic chance of growing beyond the pot. Its frost tolerance and drought resistance fit the hillside better than its tropical reputation suggests. Terra Humana sees in it a possible tree for the upper layers of the food forest, and hopes to learn from it how flowering and fruit set behave in a Sardinian spring.
Sa Medada
What this looks like at Sa Medada
At Sa Medada white sapote grows in pots, some of it already planted out. It has come through a winter outdoors and is thriving.
More about Project EdenPlants in this entry
Frequently asked
What is white sapote?
White sapote (Casimiroa edulis) is a tree of the rue family, Rutaceae, and therefore a relative of citrus, not of the black sapote or the mamey sapote. It grows wild and cultivated in central Mexico, mostly between about 600 and 900 m above sea level. Its round, often slightly lobed fruits are 6 to 12 cm long with a thin, inedible skin and creamy white or yellowish flesh around one to six large seeds. The taste is often compared with banana, pear and vanilla custard.
How much frost can white sapote take?
More than most subtropical fruit trees. The California Rare Fruit Growers state that established trees survive occasional frost to about -5.5 °C, while young trees can be damaged at about -1 °C. Julia Morton reports mature trees that withstood -6.7 °C in California. The flowers and young fruit are more sensitive: a Japanese study on the cultivar Florida found no fruit in years when the minimum fell below about -2.5 °C.
Are white sapote seeds poisonous?
Yes, they must not be eaten. Morton notes that the seed is said to be fatally toxic if eaten raw by humans or animals. Only the ripe flesh is eaten; the skin is bitter and is removed. Fallen fruit should not be left lying where children or animals could chew the seeds.
Why does white sapote fruit so often fall unripe?
White sapote tends to drop fruit, and ripe fruit bruises and spoils quickly. Morton points to sterile pollen and a lack of cross-pollination as possible causes of aborted seeds and fruit drop, so a second variety nearby can help. Growers pick fruit when it is fully grown but still firm, cut with a short piece of stem, and let it soften indoors. Unpicked fruit falls and rots, which is why the California Rare Fruit Growers warn against planting a tree over a terrace.
Where in the Mediterranean is white sapote grown?
Morton mentions plantings along the Riviera and in other parts of the Mediterranean. In Israel trials began around 1935; the trees grew well on the coastal plain but yielded little there, while they bore good crops inland. The fruit did not appeal to consumers and was too attractive to fruit flies. In California it has been grown since Franciscan missionaries brought it around 1810.
Related terms
Mentioned in
Sources
- Morton, Fruits of Warm Climates (1987), chapter White Sapote, via Purdue University NewCROP
- California Rare Fruit Growers, White Sapote Fruit Facts
- Yonemoto, Inoue, Majikina & Okuda, Critical temperature leading to frost damage in young fruits of white sapote (Casimiroa edulis) cv. Florida, Japanese Journal of Tropical Agriculture 48 (2004)
- Arizona State University, plant profile Casimiroa edulis
Last updated: 2026-10-13