The white sapote, scientific name Casimiroa edulis, also called casimiroa and Mexican apple,[1] and known as cochitzapotl in the Nahuatl language (meaning "sleep-sapote") is a species of tropical fruiting tree in the family Rutaceae, native to eastern Mexico and Central America south to Costa Rica.

The fruit is an ovoid drupe, 5–10 cm in diameter, with a thin, inedible skin turning from green to yellow when ripe, and an edible pulp, which can range in flavor from bland to banana-like to peach to pear to vanilla flan.

In the past 40 years, experiments carried out on the white sapote's seeds have identified many pharmacologically active compounds, including: N-methylhistamine, N,N-dimethylhistamine, and histamine.

[6][8] The fruit has long been thought to produce drowsiness, as claimed by Francisco Hernández de Toledo in the 16th century,[9] but this may be a misinterpretation of the Nahuatl name of the plant, cochitzapotl (meaning '"sleep-sapote"), as its seeds were processed to produce a poison by the Aztecs, and the seeds and leaves, but not fruit pulp of the plant, contain sleep-inducing compounds.

[citation needed] Commonly grown in northern New South Wales, Australia, and often mistaken for a persimmon, these two fruits are unrelated.