Green Sapote (Pouteria viridis) is a subtropical fruit which is related to the more tropical mamey sapote, and distantly related to others in the family such as lucuma and abiu, though it is tastier than all its relatives, we’d say.
The good ones taste similar to an American pumpkin pie — sweet, with a flavour of cinnamon and caramel. They don’t really taste much like real pumpkin (unlike the Mamey Sapote), which is good as I don’t enjoy pumpkin but love eating green sapote.
Surprisingly, the plant is not ultra tropical and can do well in the New Zealand climate, provided you can give it a frost-free spot and reasonable drainage. Generally, you should be able to grow this if you can grow avocados. If drainage is not perfect or you get frequent frosts, then we’d recommend growing in a container instead – they can still fruit well as they don’t seem to become huge trees quickly here.
We’ve tried some great fruit which was grown outdoors in Auckland and pictured below. A lot of our seeds are also sourced from superior varieties in the U.S and Australia. While we haven’t come across a bad green sapote yet, some taste better than others and we’ve imported the better tasting types. Some are pear shaped while others are fully round and the outside can vary from green to orange in some types. The inside is a pink coloured, moist and creamy. We have a limited amount of plants available every year.
