It can take as long as five years before a black sapote tree is mature enough to produce plentiful fruit. The fruits are ready to harvest when the skins have turned from shiny green to dull, muddy green. After harvesting, allow the fruit to sit for 3 to 14 days until it softens to a good quality for eating.

Dig a planting hole in each starter pot. Make the hole 2 inches deep and with a diameter large enough to accommodate the black sapote seed. Place the seed inside the hole and cover it loosely with compost.

The evergreen tree is slow-growing to 10 metres in the Darwin region, with a furrowed trunk and black bark. Leaves are large, glossy and leathery. Flowers are tubular and white. The fruit is bright-green and shiny at first, then on ripening, the smooth, thin skin becomes olive-green and then rather muddy-green.

The black sapote is native along both coasts of Mexico from Jalisco to Chiapas, Veracruz and Yucatan and in the forested lowlands of Central America, and it is frequently cultivated throughout this range.. . . . .364011235724!]0000000000000009783314147067!]