:-) There is a big difference between canistel and the green/mamey sapotes. The canistel is very sweet, dry or moist depending on cultivar, and has a pumpkin pie / sweet potatoe type of flavor. The green sapote reminds me a bit of a date (super duper sweet). The mamey is sweet with a bit of a caramel-ish flavor. The mamey and green sapote are both moist.

Canistel is productive (depending on cultivar) and precocious (can bear in as little as 2 years), bears twice a year, and holds fruit for probably a grand total of 5 months a year. The time from flower to harvest is only 3 to 4 months.

Mamey sapote is productive (depending on cultivar) but can take aeons to come into production even as a grafted tree. Time from flower to harvest is around 18 months, so you'll see 2 seasons of fruit on the tree at the same time. Harvest is once a year and lasts around 2 months.

Green sapote - I don't have much info on this tree, other than my 7 year old tree has flowered 3 years in a row without holding a fruit. It's also been a slow grower. But, it is in a compost pit which could be affecting things a bit. The whitman/ifas cultivar bears around March and I think flower to fruit is around 8 months, but not sure on that.

Jeff

Here are some shots of interesting canistel trees.

Here's a mature fairchild #2 canistel. You can see that it's fairly small.

The tree bore a very heavy crop. You can see a broken branch from the load of fruit.

Next up is the Fitzpatrick. This one is also a smaller canistel tree, even smaller than the fairchild #2. The fruits are about the size of a juneplum. The flavor is quite good. Personally I prefer the Fairchild #2, but my wife and stepdaughter really like this one.

The tree has a huge crop. The fruits are a couple of weeks away from being fully ripe.

I did a search and found that Green vs. Mamey Sapote has been covered pretty well in the past. (Guess I should have done that in the first place!)

Very cool those canistel! Thanks for sharing :-)

Felipe

O.K. So how does one get a hold of some seeds? I've yet to try one. I am a huge Mamey fan though. Because of where we live, we cannot really expect to plant Mamey, and get any fruit. That being said, I am extremely interested in getting a some GREEN SAPOTE SEEDS. I need to find someone who can send me seeds!!! If you know of anyone, or anyone that knows someone, who might be able to help, please let me know. I'm in it for the long haul, and am anxious to see how it does here: both on the barrier island, and on the mainland (not far from the ocean), in the Melbourne, Florida area. I am led to believe that the Green Sapote may be a tad bit "cold hardy", than any of the Mamey varieties. I am looking to try seedlings, GS grafted onto GS rootstock, and possibly GS grafted onto Mamey stock. I'll pay shipping, and whatever other "fees" that would be required. This may be the answer to my dreams, as the Mamey just will not make it this far up the East coast. My Rollinia are growing well so far.

Please let me know if you can help me out by hooking me up with a contact. I'll pay whatever is fair. I can pay by Paypal, Money order, Cashiers' check, or credit or debit card.