Wanted: tropical fruit shipped to MO

[stressbaby]

Hi all,

I'm still still poking along in MO with my little greenhouse and producing small amounts of fruit.
No PR or other tropical trips for me this year unfortunately.   
However, as some of you know, I have gotten into winemaking and that requires far more fruit than I can grow here.  I have gotten nice tropical wines from guava, starfruit, OhioJay's lemongrass, various citrus; loquat is in the primary now.

What I'm interested in is if anyone is willing to ship fruit, fresh or frozen, it doesn't matter, to Missouri.
I'm willing to experiment, so anything from passionfruit to jackfruit, to abiu might work.
I will pay of course for the shipping and the trouble, and a deal for some wine down the road is also on the table.

Thanks folks.

[HMHausman]

Have you tried mango wine?  I have a friend who was into making wine (now he just concentrates on drinking it....much less work and time).  He was always interested in making a wine out of bignay (antidesma) berries.  I bought him two trees (male and female).  I haven't checked in with him in a while about those trees. Let me see what's going on with him.

[CTMIAMI]

http://www.schneblywinery.com/

Thay make wines of most all tropical fruits grown in Homestead. Their carambola white dry wine is excellent

[TREESNMORE]

stressbabby
you can use pineapple, it makes a good wine and you can get it at the store no shipping.We make all kinds of wine peach is another good one.

[stressbaby]

Thanks for the replies.

@treesnmore: Most winemakers, including me, try to stay away from store-bought fruit.  The fruit is picked early and usually isn't so sweet.  Generally, frozen fruit is much better for wine.

@CT: I have sampled several of Schnebly's wines and in fact have a couple of bottles in the basement.  The thing is, I enjoy making it and drinking it more than buying it and drinking it.  *hiccup*

@Harry: I have not made mango wine but have tried some (Schnebly's and others I believe) and it can be really good.  But my little Cogshall is a shy producer for reasons unclear to me so I haven't gotten enough mangoes to make any wine.  Bignay, very interesting...looks like it holds promise.  Thanks for checking, I appreciate it!

[TuttiFrutti]

Hey, this is interesting to me.

Despite living in FLorida, I'm so far north, that most of what I read and see available in terms of fruit doesn't apply to me.  I just recently heard about an Asian Market not far from here that has produce.  Will check it out this week.  If it pans out, we might be able to work something out.

Fingers crossed!

[nullzero]

stressbaby,

Have you thought about gooseberries and currants? Think they would go well in a mixed wine, plus they grow outside very well in your zone. For stuff inside the green house, I would do lots of dragon fruit. DF make great wine and have good production for containers.

[stressbaby]

Yes, thanks nullzero.
I planted elderberries and jostaberries this year.  Jostaberries are actually a disease-resistant hybrid of currant and gooseberry.
No crop this year obviously.

[HMHausman]

Robert......just got word that my friend that he has a good crop of bignay this year.  Problem is, its very green right now.  He's happy to share his crop.  If you'll remind me to get back to him in about 2 months, we should be able to get a hold of some to send you.

[stressbaby]

Harry, that would be awesome!
Thanks very much.