Chocolate Persimmon Tree

Chocolate Persimmon (Diospyros nigra), sold in most of Australia as black sapote, is an evergreen fruit tree that settles at around 7m tall and 5m wide in a garden. The fruit ripens to a soft dark pulp eaten with a spoon, with a mild sweetness and a smooth texture quite unlike a common persimmon. It is heat and humidity proof, low maintenance, and broad enough to earn its keep as a shade tree.

Why you'll love it

• Fruit worth planting a tree for. Ripe flesh is dark, smooth and lightly sweet, good fresh with lime juice or in desserts.
• Shade and a crop from one tree. The glossy canopy spreads about 5m, so it shades a yard while it fruits.
• Built for heat and humidity. Wet season downpours, sticky coastal summers and hot inland days all suit it.
• Genuinely low maintenance. There is no spray program to follow and no annual pruning routine to keep up.

Where it works best

Backyard fruiting tree. Give it 5m of clear width in full sun, away from paving where dropped fruit would stain.

Shade tree. The dense evergreen canopy holds all year, so it covers a lawn or patio in tropical and subtropical gardens.

Feature planting. Large glossy leaves and a strong upright shape give it a tropical look even out of fruit.

Growing Chocolate Persimmon in Australia

Position and climate. Full sun and a warm, sheltered spot. This is a tropical and subtropical tree only: coastal Queensland and northern New South Wales suit it well. It is frost tender, and young trees are damaged by even light frost, so cool and cold gardens are not viable in the ground.

Soil. Free draining soil enriched with compost before planting. It will not tolerate waterlogged ground, so mound the planting position on heavy clay and mulch 75mm deep, clear of the trunk.

Water and feed. Water deeply twice a week through the first two summers and whenever fruit is swelling. Feed a citrus and fruit tree fertiliser three times through the warm months, and taper off in winter.

Pruning. Optional, but it responds well. Tip prune the leaders once the tree passes 3m to hold it near 4m for easy picking, and thin any crossing branches after harvest.

What to expect when it arrives

We grow it in a single size, a 5L pot, so what arrives is a young tree of roughly knee to waist height with a well developed root system rather than an instant canopy. Young stock settles into warm ground faster than advanced stock and catches up within a couple of seasons. Fruiting starts once the tree has real size behind it, usually several years after planting.

Plants are packed to travel upright and delivered Australia wide, with delivery from $29.95. Every plant is covered by our 30 day healthy plant guarantee.

Plant care guides and related reading

• Planting tips for backyard fruit trees
• Browse the full fruit tree range
• Plants for subtropical gardens
• More edible plants for the garden

Common questions

Does it really taste like chocolate?

Not literally, though the resemblance is fair. Ripe pulp is dark brown, soft and mildly sweet, closer to chocolate mousse in texture than in flavour.

Will it grow in Sydney, Melbourne or Perth?

Not reliably in the ground. It is frost tender and wants consistent warmth, so south of the northern New South Wales coast the honest answer is a large pot in a sheltered courtyard, moved under cover for winter.

How do I know when the fruit is ripe?

Pick when the skin dulls from glossy green to olive, then ripen indoors until very soft. Eaten firm it is astringent and unpleasant, which is where most first crops go wrong.

Can I keep it smaller than 7m?

Yes. It takes pruning well, and tipping the leaders from an early age holds it around 4m without hurting the crop.