2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38
White sapota (lat. Casimiroa edulis) - a fruit tree, which is a representative of the Sapotov family.
Description
White sapote is a woody evergreen plant, reaching twenty meters in height and endowed with an ash-gray warty bark. The leaves of this culture are palmate and very large - they are all formed by three to seven leathery leaves, which are characterized by a lanceolate shape. The leaves are arranged next, and their length can reach sixty centimeters.
Nondescript small flowers of white sapote are painted in modest greenish-yellowish shades - they all gather in compact paniculate inflorescences both in the leaf axils and at the tips of branches.
White sapote fruits are oval or round, and their size rarely exceeds the size of an average orange (about twelve centimeters in diameter). All of them are covered with a very thin peel, which is instantly damaged when pressed or scratched. For this reason, all fruits are harvested exclusively by hand, together with the stalks, since damaged fruits spoil almost instantly. However, even very carefully picked fruits will not lie in the refrigerator for more than two weeks. And since overripe fruits are absolutely inedible, they are picked off slightly unripe and allowed to "reach" in a dark place.
During the ripening period, fruits change their color from standard green to yellowish-greenish, yellow or light green. And the pulp can be colored red, pink, cream or white - in this case, the color depends entirely on the cultivated variety. Its texture is slightly fibrous, almost like pears. As for the taste of the pulp, it boasts a delicious banana-peach flavor. Inside all the fruits, one or several oval poisonous white seeds can be found.
Where grows
In the wild, the white sapote can be seen in Mexico, as well as in Central America, where it forms entire rainforests. And it is cultivated both in the tropical and subtropical zones (in the Bahamas, in America, in South Africa, in the Philippines, in the Mediterranean, in the distant Antilles, as well as in the vastness of New Zealand and India).
Application
Most often, white sapote is eaten fresh. However, it is quite actively used in cooking - wonderful marmalade, jelly or halva are obtained from its pulp, and a very tasty juice is squeezed out of it. And to keep it as long as possible, the pulp is frozen.
In a number of Central American countries and in Mexico, the local population actively uses these fruits in traditional medicine - they are an excellent pain reliever for arthritis and rheumatism causing a lot of trouble. Leaves, as well as bark and seeds are no less actively used for medical purposes - since ancient times, Mexicans have been extracting extracts from them that are used as sedatives, sedatives and sleeping pills, and in Costa Rica, decoctions and infusions are prepared from such raw materials. treating diabetes.
Contraindications
As such, the white sapot has no contraindications. The main thing is to avoid eating its seeds, because they contain toxic substances that are dangerous to health.
Growing and caring
White sapote can easily withstand minor frosts (up to about minus three degrees). And under especially unfavorable conditions, she simply drops the leaves. Best of all, a white sapote will feel in direct sunlight, as it is very light-requiring.
The main feature of the white sapote is that some of its forms may be inedible, even though the parent tree produced quite edible fruits. That is why, in order to get a guaranteed result, this culture is bred not with seeds, but with the help of grafts - grafted specimens delight with the first harvest in three to four years.
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