The canistel displays climacteric fruit ripening. A fully mature fruit shows an intense yellow skin color.
It will eventually soften and drop from the tree. Insects and birds avoid the fruit flesh, perhaps because of its astringent properties, that are much reduced in senescent fruits, but still perceptible to the human palate.
Apparently mature fruits severed from the tree while still hard often fail to develop the desired climacteric changes in terms of reduced astringency and a texture reminiscent of egg yolk.
This, and the fact that climacteric fruits quickly start to decay at ambient temperatures, may have contributed to the low economic importance of the canistel.