I feel fortunate to have a couple of new fruits coming. I welcome any thoughts on growing or eating...



became...


And also I have these little baby muntingia (those aren't bugs, that is shredded pine bark fines that were blown into the GH!). Neat little tree, interesting bark, grows fast, fruits at a small size:


SB

That's a very nice picture of a passion flower SB. I had a passion vine growing wild in the lot behind my house and I have eaten the fruits-- they are kind of like a pomegranate-- mostly seeds with a thin coating of juicy flesh--they have sweet-sour taste that's pretty good.

Passionfruit -- I see you are getting good fruit set. Are you hand pollinating? If not, lucky you! Hints for eating them -- they're best if left on the vine until they drop naturally, and at that point, the fruits will be rather wrinkled and "old" looking, but perfectly delicious. My favorite way to use them is sprinkled (seeds included) over vanilla ice cream. WOW!

Muntingia -- interesting fruit. I've never learned anything to "do" with it, other than just graze on them while visiting the tree. But it's a nice, unique flavor.

Hi Harvey,
I must admit, haven't tried to eat a pomegranet since I was a kid. It would be great if there are some new cultivars that are nearly seedless.

Forgive my ignorance guys but we always considered these things a nuance plant that will grow in most cultivated earth here. They seem to wait until you ready to plant your garden and pop up form nowhere. I must say that I have never eaten any of them because the old folks would tell us that they would make you ill. They look the same as in the photos, same flowers and the fruit turns yellow later in the season.
Really, you guys eat these things?
Karl

Aratiles, datiles, Jamaican Cherry are the other names of Muntingia. They are my favorite fruits while I was a kid. I made my first port wine out of Muntingia while I was in College, and it has the best aroma that can't be found in other port wines that I made. Too bad, they are not cold hardy to be planted outside inground in Davis.

The tree can become very big, like 35 ft or more in the Philippines where it literally grows like a weed. The wood is very soft and it is usually used as tinder to wooden stove fire.

It bear fruits year round. You can eat the fruit just as it turns color from green to yellow green, but the best flavor and aroma can be had when it is red ripe.

Hi Karl,-- Yeah we do eat them-- they grow all over in the woods whenever the ground is exposed like in clear cuts. They do have an interesting flavor-- just not much substance. Theh have never made me sick, but I never ate more than 1 or 2 at any time.

Passiflora incarnata, the "maypop" is native to the SE USA, and is edible, but rather bland. P. edulis (which I believe is the fruit in the picture) produces a very much more powerful flavor (stronger, and more acidic) and is the source of passionfruit flavoring in various drinks and other food products.

This PF is P. edulis 'McCain,' which is supposed to taste pretty good. I also have 'Possum Purple' but it has not flowered yet.

I didn't do anything to pollinate the flower, but I did note some ants, so I wonder if they did the job. So far, I'm 4/4 on flower/fruit set.

Joe, I'm glad to hear about the ports, because wine-making is on my short-term "to learn" list. I had some great blackberry wine made by a friend the other day, >21% ABV he said. He also said that persimmons make excellent wine. This is also good news for me because I have a gigantic female persimmon tree just off of my driveway. This fall...persimmon wine!

Kindly post your persimmon wine. My persimmon wine completely lost the persimmon flavor, it became very strong, 16% abv. this could be due to erratic readings from the hydrometer. Would want details as to stage of fruit when processed. I used Fuyu and somewhat disappointed with the results.

Maypop! Yes that is what we call them here. Who would have thought that someone would grow these on purpose?
Sorry, I really don’t want to diminish what you are growing but when you grow up with these things, thinking of them as a nuisance, it’s difficult to come around to thinking that they may not be so bad after all.
I guess I will have to try one.
Karl

You might be surpised as to how many weeds produce wonderful edible fruits and how many can also be used as salads or vegetables. You just normally won't grow them in your locality.

it is nice to know these things as it helps a lot. As a child, I spent some time next to a forest or jungle where my late father used to manage a logging operation. So I have some experiences knowing what wild fruits are edible and what are poisonous. From weeds to the tallest trees. Some I have forgotten already but I try to read up as more of our endemic species are being studied or rediscovered.