Category Archives: Tropical Fruit Plants

The Canary Islands are a paradise for exotic fruits and we offer the largest selection in Europe of tropical fruit trees

The Mamey Sapote – Mamey Rojo or Red Mamey

Canarius | Thursday September 2nd, 2010 |
3 Replies

The Mamey Rojo – Mamey Colorado or Red Mamey. Information from the Canary Islands and a video with The Tropical Fruit Growers of South Florida.

We are proud to offer grafted plants of Mamey Colorado, a fabulous tropical fruit tree, which is hard to find in Europe. We sell the improved variety “Pantin” and we ship our grafted trees to anywhere in Europe.

Pouteria sapota Pantin – Mamey Colorado

This is a video published by the “Tropical Fruit Growers”, presenting the famous tropical fruit called – Mamey Sapote or Mamey Colorado - with Mr. Julian Lara.

Red Mamey is a tropical evergreen tree native to Central America commonly grown as an ornamental.

The tree has an open crown with a central thick trunk and some large branches. It could reach up to 20 m (60 ft) in tropical regions. Leaves are 30 cm (12 “) long and 10 cm (4 “) wide, the shape is obovate or oblolanceolate and they are group and the end of small branches. Flowers are small, whitish and sessile. The fruit is a berry, oval-shaped, with a persistent calyx; its size varies from 8-20 cm (3-8 “) length. The skin is thick and reddish, similar to very soft sandpaper. The flesh of ripen fruits is salmon-pink, orange or red and the texture varies from smooth, firm to finely granulate. It has a sweet unique taste similar to almonds. Usually there is a long, elliptic seed, but could be four. Fruits weight 0,3-2,7 kg (0,7-6 lb). Available in the summer. Could be eaten fresh and used in milk shakes, soups, preserves and deserts. The grafted variety “Pantin” is most spread in Florida and from all the varieties of red the mamey this has the best taste.

Canarius offers grafted mameys. Grafting trees is an art and it is very difficult to graft Pouteria as it takes many months and many failures to achieve the goal.

This fruit tree in Spanish is called:

  • Mamey Sapote
  • Sapote Rojo
  • Mamey Rojo
  • Mamey Cubano

Bee Honey VS Palm Honey

Canarius | Friday June 11th, 2010 |
Leave a reply

Palm honey is not Bee honey. It is the concentred sap of the Canary Islands native palm, Phoenix canariensis. It is thinner and darker than bee-honey. Both are natural sweeteners, but there is a big difference in taste and chemical content. The Canary Islands are home to great bee-honeys produced from indigenous flowers. Both bee-honey and palm-honey are used in local cuisine.

Difference in Cuisine and their nutritional content

——

  • Bee-Honey is better on: Fresh Fruits, Milk as sweetener.
  • Palm-Honey is better on: Fresh Cheese, Yogourt, Liqueurs.
  • Both are good in: Cakes, Gofio, Sweetener for Tea
Ecological Guarapo

Ecological Guarapo – Palm Honey is typically sold in glass bottles

Chestnut Honey

Chestnut Honey – Bee Honey is typicall sold in glass jars

——

There is also a big difference in nutritional content. Palms and bees are different living beings! Both are very healthy products because they contain natural, beneficial chemicals. Their content is different. Palm honey, for example is very rich in Magnesium and Potassium.

——

Here we share a table from a study performed on canarian honeys.

ESSAY OF THE CONCENTRATION OF INORGANIC IONS IN THE “PALM HONEY” FROM THE SAP OF THE CANARY ISLANDS PALM.
IONS (%)
 PALM HONEY BEE HONEY
CALCIUM 0,0043 0,006
COPPER 0,00015 0,00007
IRON 0,0010 0,0009
PHOSPHORUS 0,025 0,016
MAGNESIUM 0,019 0,006
POTASSIUM 1,038 0,010
SODIUM 0,056 0,003
ZINC 0,00034 -
Source: “Análisis bromatológico de iones inorgánicos en Miel de Palma”
Alberto Castilla Armas – Pedro Abreu Gonzalez

——

You can buy different types of palm-honey and bee-honey from the Canary Islands in the Honey Section of our Shop. We ship to anywhere in Europe.

Mango Varieties sold by Canarius for Mediterranean and Subtropical Climates

Canarius | Wednesday May 5th, 2010 |
13 Replies

The mango tree, Mangifera indica, is an evergreen tropical tree tolerant of cooler conditions and short droughts. There are literally thousands of different types, called varieties or cultivars.

Canarius offers a selection of varieties better adapted to non tropical climates, grafted on a the hardy rootstock “Gomera-1″. You can buy young trees in the shop. Mango will effortlessly grow and fruit outdoors in warm Mediterranean Climates, such as coastal areas of Portugal, Spain, Italy and Greece. Adult plants resist short freezes at -4°C (25°F), but young trees are more sensitive. Mango is the third most important tropical crop in the Canary Islands, after banana and avocado.  

This is Mango Irwin, grown in Tenerife

Different varieties hide different flavours, fruit sizes and colours. Mangos may be dark green, greenish-yellow, yellow, red, orange or purple. By planting different varieties, the fruiting season can be extended up to four months. Low-growing varieties, such as ” Keitt ” can grow and fruit in large pots. The yellow Canarian mango “Gomera” is the most resistant to cold and frost and it fruits even in South France. “Lippens” fruits well in cooler conditions, so it is planted at higher elevations in the Canaries. “Osteen” is grown commercially in Mediterranean Southern Spain.

Grafting is the best way to reproduce the best varieties. The mangos sold at Canarius are all grafted and the rootstock is the hardy canarian mango “Gomera-1″, because it is resistant to drought and wet, cool soil in winter. Our mango trees are hardier to cold because we use this type of rootstock.

Fruits of Mango Gomera-3. Gomera is a hardy Canarian variety used as a rootstock. Mango trees grafted with gomera are less sensitive to cold and drought.

Canarius offers the varieties that are planted here in the Canary Islands, in our subtropical-mediterranean climate. We ship to your home the same grafted trees that are sold to local farmers , ready to go to the field: same plants, same size, same deep pots.

The plants you purchase are at least 2 years old, because the root trees are grown for 1,5 years before grafting. Then they are grafted and grown for at least six  moremonths. These plants will fruit in two or three years. They will bloom very soon but you will need to remove the inflorescence during the first two years, to allow stronger vegetative growth before fruiting.

Grafting Mangos in the Nursery

In our shop you can purchase a wide selection of mango trees of different varieties. All trees are grafted by hand, with specific cultivars. We ship to any countries in Europe.

Try also our delicious Mango jam with or without sugar, in the honeys & jams section, produced with the mangoes of the Canary Islands.

List of our stock of Mangifera indica
(Not all varieties are available at any time. Sometimes we only supply a few mango cultivars.)

  • Anderson
  • Ataulfo
  • Bill
  • Edward
  • These are the mango plants that we ship to your homeFord
  • Gomera (Hardy Mango)
  • Haden
  • Heidi
  • Irwin
  • Isis
  • Kensington
  • Keitt
  • Lily
  • Lippens
  • Manzanillo
  • Mun
  • Osteen
  • Palmer
  • Sensation
  • Tolbert
  • Tommy Atkins
  • Valencia Pride
  • Van Dyke
  • Zill

Natural Palm Honey was our best seller in 2009

Canarius | Saturday January 9th, 2010 |
Leave a reply

Palm Honey is not bee-honey. It the syrup obtained from the sap of the native Canarian palm (Phoenix canariensis). As Canarius.com started to work online, this unique product soon became the best-seller of the shop. This is because our website is visited both by plant-lovers and by people interested in the Canarian foods and cuisine. We plan to improve our offer in 2010 by adding new types and sizes of Palm Honey.

A best seller in Canarius.com

Palm Honey is typical from the island of La Gomera and can be used in many ways. It is darker than typical bee-honey, less dense and richer in vitamines. The unique aroma is reminiscent of maple syrup. About 10 liters of fresh palm sap are needed to produce one liter of this sought after product. Sap extraction is done manually by climbing tall palms one by one, processing is done in small and clean official factories, without artificial ingredients. So, it is relatively expensive if compared to bee honey, even on the local market. It is collected in a sustainable way as the native palm is not killed when the honey is extracted. Just as bee honey it is used as a sweetener for tea and other hot drinks. It is often spread on fresh cheese or traditional desserts, such as Leche Asada, Frangollo, Quesillo, or as a topping for Banana Flambe. It is mixed with the Canarian roasted flour called “gofio” and served as a delicious dessert. Some Canarian restaurants use it as a topping for salads and meat. CANARIUS offers different types of Gofio and  Frangollo, which can be combined with Palm Honey. You can also buy living plants of Phoenix canariensis, the palm species that is used to make this unique “honey”. It is native to the Canary Islands but it is resistant to moderate frosts and grows as a fine ornamental palm.