Caimito (Star Apple)

The caimito or star apple is an attractive tree reaching a height of about fifteen meters. It is a native of the American tropics and suited to low and medium altitudes but grows well in the Philippines even where the dry season is pronounced.
The star apple fruit is light-green, smooth and shiny. There are three types of caimito fruits. One type is rounded; the second, is an oblong; and the third, is top-shaped with the larger portion towards the base.
The star apple fruit has a thin skin which covers a whitish, edible pulp. When ripe, this pulp is soft and contains a small amount of milky juice. There are five to six, sometimes nine seeds found in one fruit. The color of the seeds are very dark brown, almost black. The seed has a mild, pleasant taste.

Economic Value of Star Apple Fruit

• The ripe caimito fruit is eaten as a dessert. Its flavour may be enhanced by mixing the white pulp with milk and sugar.
Medicinal Value of Star Apple
• The ripe fruit is a remedy for diabetes.
• The solution formed by boiling the bark of the trunk in water is a remedy for dysentery.
• The fresh latex from the fruits is good for abscesses.
• The dried latex when applied expels intestinal worms.

Caimito bears fruits after five or six years when planted as seedling. Budded plants bear fruits much earlier.
Twig, borer, carpenter moth, grey mealybug , toy beetle and fruit fly, the destructive insect pests which attack the atis tree and fruits, can be controlled by regular spraying of such insecticides as Roger L-20, Daygun, Malathion 57% E.C. and Dimecron 50% E.C.