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rodneys

Had my first mamey sapote

rodneys
12 years ago

At least I think it was. The Mexican vendor said it was Mamey, and I was confused if it was Mamey sapote or Mamey apple. The fruit was large, 2-3 lbs. Round in shape, orange-flesh with a single black seed. The single, large black seed makes me think it's a mamey sapote because mamey apples have light brown seeds, but most I've seen are football-shaped, not round.

On to the taste, I found hints of pumpkin/banana bread. It wasn't overpoweringly sweet. The texture was reminiscent of avocado & cooked sweet potato, with a little less fibrous tissue. I enjoyed it. I kept the seed and potted it in a 1 gal. I know they take around 7-10 years to fruit, but I'm hoping to grow rootstock & find someone with wood from a good variety. I think "Patin" is the most common.

Comments (17)

  • tropicalgrower89
    12 years ago

    Never seen orange-fleshed mamey, personally. But, the other descriptions you mentioned matches mamey sapote. Pantin and most other mamey's have a red/pinkish flesh. If it's a bit under-ripe, it might have an orange color to it.

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/i_like_plants/3751467435/

  • bsbullie
    12 years ago

    it could definitely have an orange-ish colored flesh. Usually a deep or dark orange, not bright orange or peach though. It could also have a definite red orange color. The taste you described sounds about right. The texture should have been soft and creamy, no fiber except maybe right where the stem is. One large seed is correct. Should be fair;y sweet if the fruit was picked mature and ripe/ready to eat. Was the outside soft to the touch ? I am wondering if it may have been a little under ripe.

  • trianglejohn
    12 years ago

    I grew one from seed. It took a couple years to get over two feet tall but it made a lovely potted plant in the meantime.

  • adiel
    12 years ago

    Rodney, congrats! It is a very delicious fruit. Excellent milkshake too. I have the pantin variety and it is delicious. I just had a couple of fruit this year for the first time. I recommend you obtain an already grafted tree since it is very hard for the graft to take.

    Adiel

  • subtropix
    12 years ago

    Do NOT feel bad about the confusion for starters! I was extremely confused by the variety of conflicting common names. My Cuban friends in Miami had a tree in their backyard that I fell in love with on first sight. Them called it 'zapote'. When I got back to NJ, I ordered what I thought was the same tree--Mammea americana. But the tree I got looked just like a Southern Magnolia (M. grandiflora) but without the attractive brown fuzz on the underside of the leaf. I have a half dozen cultivars of M. grandiflora growing in the yard already so another tree that looked just like it was not really interesting to me. Turns out, the fruit that I fell in love with in Miami was Pouteria zapota. I loved the fruit as it tasted like sweet potato pie. It's sweet but not excessively so and virtually identical in color to sweet potato as well. Very easy to start from seed (locally available in Latin fruit markets). I have two about one foot tall and I only just started them in early Summer. The adult tree is just gorgeous!--Lush, tropical, but kind of open/layered canopy.

  • rodneys
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    Thanks for all the comments. I'm hoping to try all the sapotes. We'll see if the seeds sprouts.

    Adiel, can I ask you for some scionwood later on?

  • pikorazi
    12 years ago

    mamey has a great genetic variation. so there a different kind of fruit. some are not very sweet, while others are very sweet, close to sapodilla..

    rodney, mamey is really hard to graft, scionwood should be very fresh! if i were you, i would first buy a grafted one, then you can try grafting. seedlings take very long to fruit, and are often poor producers.

    felipe

  • adiel
    12 years ago

    Rodney, I can send you budwood but, it is very difficult for it to take. Also, as mentioned by pikorazi, it should be fresh cut from the tree. The shipping alone might kill it. These grafted mamey trees are so sensitive that even one year after being grafted, they could still die.

    Adiel

  • rodneys
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    I've read that Mamey & Green sapote are very similar. Which one do you prefer?

  • hmhausman
    12 years ago

    Mamey and green sapote are similar. Mamey is generally a larger and a more available fruit. Green sapote is smaller and hard to get. Maybe its scarcity makes it psychologically taste better, but in my memory, the green sapotes I have had have been superior to the mameys that I have had. In my recollection they were sweeter with a better flavor. I have tasted the following mameys: Pantin (Key West), Magana,and Pace. Might have had a few others over the years, tough to recall right now.

    Harry

  • jfernandez
    12 years ago

    Rodney,

    The ones you had are probably from the state of Guerrero in Mexico...some are very good but others are unsavory. I've tasted Pace, Pantin from Florida and many other seedling from Santo Domingo and throughout Mexico. In the archives I have pics of Mamey Sapote from the Yucatan. I started several seedlings in Aug. with the same idea as you and I have a source in Santa Ana were I can get wood.
    Here is a pic of my seedling and my Magana that's been in the ground less than two years.

    JF


  • rodneys
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    Nice pics! Of the ones you've tasted, which do you prefer?

    On a side note, I added a Timotayo mango to my collection. When it starts to have some good growth, you can get some wood from me.

    I'll send you an email

  • jfernandez
    12 years ago

    Hi Rodney,

    the best Mamey I've had was Mamey colorado in the Yucatan. Timotayo is a nice addition, small fruits with intense flavor, somewhat tangy and some fiber....you can see a fruiting Timotayo, about 4 years old in a 15 galon, in Upland Nursery in Orange. Sure I'll get you some wood the tree is huge and it's a California seedling. I'll leave some pics of the Timotayo fruit and the tree as well as some other tropical fruit trees in Santa Ana.



    next to my Tropical guava




  • David F.
    8 years ago

    Hi, I'm also looking for mamey sapote scionwood. I have 3 small mamey sapote seedlings growing. They are slow growers. They're about a foot long each. Just this past week I purchased 2 mamey sapotes from a grocery nearby me and split one open yesteday. 2 seeds came out of 1 fruit and they are in a pot. Fruit was good. I've got 1 more sapote to open. Don't know if it will have 1 seed or 2. Adiel, I'd like to get some scionwood from you. I know it's hard to graft but I'm willing to take on the challenge. Jfernandez. If you could give me info on the source for mamey scionwood from what you know I'd like to get some wood and willing to try. I'll post pics here if my grafts take. I know it's hard, but I like challenges :).


  • greenman62
    8 years ago

    i have one i grew from seed. its about 18 or 20 months old... last winter i had left it out before my greenhouse was finished, and it hit 28F...

    it had some damage, i even thought it was dead for a while, until spring when it came back strong....

    I really wish i would have planted a green sapote instead. to me the fruit looks tastier, and it is more cold hardy. and they are very close relatives, so they should graft easily.


    I am in New Orleans, and am wondering if i will ever see fruit from this tree.

    I will probably plant it in ground in Spring, in a protected area I figure if it took 28F in a container, it should handle 25F in ground with mulch and a frost cloth. especially since it will be 4 times the size by the time it sees and frost.

    I am hoping that in years where we do not have a cold winter it will fruit, and in colder years, i may just loose leaves and small branches. Some of our milder winters will barely hit 30F for a few hours 1 or 2 times during cold snaps, while i have only seen it get below 26F 4-5 times in the last 7 or 8 years or so.


    last fall


    --------

    spring - recovering from winter damage 28F

    --------

    last week : hard to see, but it has several branches now.


  • sf_rhino
    8 years ago

    I have a similarly sized one that I put outside last fall. We had a cold snap that dropped down to the high 30's one night and it lost almost every leaf. Now is it getting bushy again and has started to branch a bit like yours. I'm glad to see yours recovered from 28F. It seems like they can't take much cold at all. I set up a weather alert in case the weather drops to 39.

  • dangermouse01 (coastal central FL 9B)
    8 years ago

    If Mamey Sapote takes 14 to 20-ish months from flower to fruit harvest, any idea on how hanging fruit will do outside in those temps? The fruit is going to see at least on winter during that time.

    DM

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