Unlike plumcots, which are simple plum x apricot crosses, Apriums were developed through intricate hybridizing, requiring several generations of crosses to create these relatively new fruits. The complex, intense flavor of the Aprium is unique, much like a blend of fruit juices where the sum is better than the parts. Additionally, the Aprium’ s sugar…
Also known as Manila Mangoes, Ataulfo Mangoes are prized for their creamy, smooth texture and sweet flavor. Once they are available, we know that Champagne Mangoes (a branded Mango packed in Texas) are just around the corner.
A very distinctive passion fruit relative, Passiflora Mollissima Bailey was renamed Banana Passion Fruit in New Zeland. In Hawaii, it is called Banana Poka. In its Latin American homeland, it is known as Curuba, Curuba de Castilla, or Curuba Sabanera Blanco (Columbia) Tacso, Tagso, Tauso (Ecuador) Parcha (Venezuela), Tumbo or Curuba (Bolivia) Tacso, Tumbo, Tumbo…
We usually see dried dates, packed in trays. These are fresh dates, still in a bunch. Fresh Barhi Dates(on the left) are a prime date of Arabia, valued for its delicate and rich flavor. The ripening date develops its sweetness at an early stage making it a popular fresh date, and it also cures well….
Cape Gooseberries were introduced to England in the eighteenth century but seem to have been known to the Greeks as early as the third century AD. The early settlers in South Africa cultivated Cape Gooseberries in the Cape of Good Hope, giving rise to one theory on how they acquired their name. Cape Gooseberries (physalis,…
The mango is the single most consumed fruit in the world. Hadens, Keitts, Kents and Tommy Atkins are the most common varieties. Enter the Champagne Mango. Actually a premium pack of the Ataulfo variety mango, Champagne Mango, like all Ataulfo mangoes, are free from the pesky fibers that plague the flesh of the other mango…
Cherimoya is native to South America and the West Indies, and grows on shrubs belonging to the Annona species. Inside the scaly yellowish green skin, the fruit has creamy white, custard-like flesh with a sweet-sour flavor reminiscent of pineapples and bananas, and large black seeds. Cherimoya flesh makes a delicious fruit sauce when blended with…
A Cocktail Avocado is a delightful little gift of nature that occurs without warning as a result of genetic factors and sudden changes in climate. This small, seedless avocado shows up most often in the greenskin variety, Fuerte. Although difficult to peel, Cocktail Avocado are cute and tasty when sliced into rounds as a garnish…
These shiny scarlet berries are grown in huge, sandy bogs on low, trailing vines. Cranberries grow wild in northern Europe and in the northern climes of North America, where they are also extensively cultivated, mainly in Massachusetts, Wisconsin, Washington and Oregon. Historians and culinary anthropologists still consider how cranberry sauce became a staple of the…
In 1915, Californian Everett K. DaVall developed two new Date varieties with the help of the Coachella Valley Agricultural Extension Station staff. To this day, his grandson, Everett, grows the same two Dates Empress and Honey. Both have exceptional flavor but have their own personalities. The Empress is perfect for stuffing its texture is somewhat…
Red Dragon Fruit, originally known as Pitahaya, is native to Central America, and is grown in the dryer tropic climates of Asia and the Americas. The fruit is related to the Cactus Pear, and grows on a vine-like member of the cactus family. Dragon Fruit cultivars have flesh of various colors: white, pink and the…
There are basically two commercially important varieties of Persimmons (also known as Kaki Fruit), both bright orange in color and Asian in origin. Pointy Hachiyas should be ripened until squishy-soft before eating, but flat, tomato-shaped Fuyu Persimmons can be enjoyed crisp like apples. Fuyus are the first persimmon variety to be harvested, the harbinger of…
Indigenous to China, the Loquat is a subtropical fruit that is available from California from March to June. Growers in Chile have planted Golden Nugget variety Loquat trees, and now, thanks to our neighbors in the southern hemisphere, we have Loquats in winter. The Golden Nugget Loquat is large and ovoid, with succulent, tangy-sweet, orange…
Hachiya Persimmons are quite soft, almost squishy, when completely ripe and have a smooth, creamy testure and a tangy-sweet flavor. If eaten even slightly underripe, they will pucker the mouth with an incredible astringency. Persimmons that are not quite ripe can be ripened at room temperature. Great in a multitude of baked good and other…
This dry fruit is so special, Slow Food has accepted Hoshigaki into their Ark of Taste. From the Slow Food USA website: ” Hoshigaki are persimmons that are peeled and dried whole over a period of several weeks through a combination of hanging and delicate hand-massaging, until the sugars contained in the fruit form a…
Also known as Chinese jujubes, Chinese apples or Chinese dates (anab in Arabic, zizifa in Greek, bor in India, and natsume in Japan), Jujubes have been cultivated in Northern China for more than 4,000 years and are now grown extensively in India, Asian, Southern Europe and more recently on the West Coast of the United…
Distant relatives of the lychees, Longans are small, round, undistinguished-looking fruit. The brittle light brown skin encloses translucent, juicy-soft flesh around a single large, black inedible pit. Their perfumey flavor is delicate and sweet. Longans are grown throughout Southeast Asia and China, where they are particularly popular the Chinese name means " dragon’ s eye"…
Loquats grow in clusters, are oval, rounded or pear-shaped, 1 to 2 inches long with a smooth or downy, yellow or orange, sometimes red-blushed skin. The succulent, tangy flesh is white, yellow or orange and sweet to subacid or acid. The Loquat is comparable to the apple in many aspects, with a high sugar, acid…
The Lychee is native to low elevations in Southern China. Cultivation spread over the years through neighboring areas of southeastern Asia and offshore islands. It reached Hawaii in 1873, and Florida in 1883, and was conveyed from Florida to California in 1897. Lychee must be allowed to ripen fully on the tree, and can be…
This ultra-tropical fruit is newly allowed into the United States. Revered for its unusual flavor (pineapple/guava/citrus-ish), it also has great presentation value.
