Author Topic: Superior Pitangatuba (Starcherry) Cultivars?  (Read 1888 times)

starch

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Superior Pitangatuba (Starcherry) Cultivars?
« on: June 28, 2019, 08:10:36 PM »
I have been growing Pitangatuba (Eugenia neonitida) for several years and have 4 fruit producing plants. All are between 2-4 ft tall (Pitangatuba is notoriously slow growing) and my oldest shrub has been producing fruit for 3 years. I absolutely *love* the flavor. My best attempt to describe the flavor is mango-grapefruit-pineapple-peach-cherry. However the sweet / acid balance is something like 50/50. It has enough sweet to balance the flavor when you eat 1-2 of them, but not enough that you could eat a bunch of them at one time. The other drawback is that they are *very* latex-y. I often them them sit on the counter to turn from yellow to orange and it definitely helps. But once you eat a half dozen of them your lips start getting welded together. So for me for fresh eating it is more of a novelty.

All my plants (all seedlings) display the same flavor and latex characteristics. So I am wondering: has anyone done some selection on Pitangatuba to find/breed some superior cultivars?

In my mind a superior cultivar would:

1. Have the same intense tropical flavor that a normal seedling Pitangatuba would.
2. Have a more palatable sweet/acid balance (something like 67/33 would be pretty perfect)
3. Have a significantly reduced / non-perceptible latex presence

Does anybody have a plant that meets this criteria?
 
- Mark

John Travis

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Re: Superior Pitangatuba (Starcherry) Cultivars?
« Reply #1 on: June 29, 2019, 07:53:24 PM »
I have been going through my seedlings and looking for ones with different attributes. I haven't found one that has the sweet balance, but I did find one that has a much more firm flesh that is less sour, not quite bland but might make for an interesting plant to use in breeding.
John

BonsaiBeast

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Re: Superior Pitangatuba (Starcherry) Cultivars?
« Reply #2 on: June 30, 2019, 02:51:13 AM »
The fruit is latexy? I thought it was like a Surinam cherry

Kevin Jones

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Re: Superior Pitangatuba (Starcherry) Cultivars?
« Reply #3 on: June 30, 2019, 06:30:41 PM »
Juicy, Sour and a slight gummy mouth feel after consumption.
Every now and then I get one almost balanced... but not often.
I have selected my best individual as well.
Larger fruit. Hollow seed cavity loosely rattles sort of like a walnut. Better taste/less sour.
Still hard to eat more than one at a time.
Best use would be smoothies or some sort of sweetened concoction
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kj


brian

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Re: Superior Pitangatuba (Starcherry) Cultivars?
« Reply #4 on: July 01, 2019, 09:10:04 AM »
Did you grow from seed?  They look tasty and I already love surinam cherries

Kevin Jones

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Re: Superior Pitangatuba (Starcherry) Cultivars?
« Reply #5 on: July 01, 2019, 10:47:22 AM »
I'm a big Suriname Cherry fan as well.
All my plants were grown from seed.
Some were purchased from Flying Fox Fruits and some I grew myself from seed.
I have a few seedlings for sale if you are interested.
Go over to the "For Sale" posts and you will see the info.
kj

« Last Edit: July 01, 2019, 01:01:17 PM by Kevin Jones »

palologrower

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Re: Superior Pitangatuba (Starcherry) Cultivars?
« Reply #6 on: July 02, 2019, 04:03:24 AM »
I’ve collected from 6-7 sources so far.  Only have had from 2 sources.  One being from flying fox and some older bushes from Frankie’s.  I have a couple promising ones direct from Brazil that will hopefully result in something worth cross breeding. 

But when in doubt miracle berries...