Author Topic: caimito fruit- star apple  (Read 32326 times)

FloridaGreenMan

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Re: caimito fruit- star apple
« Reply #25 on: March 29, 2012, 08:43:46 PM »
Here's my 2 cents....I have tasted Caimitos from many trees in SFLA, Puerto Rico and in Jamaica. They are a good tasting fruit but not nearly as tasty as a top notch Abiu like my Marisa tree or the Grey from Australia . It produces a delicious fruit so maybe those Hawaiian Abius produce inferior fruit.  Hard to say. We also do not have any fruit fly problems with them in my area YET.   I have a good sized Caimito that I bought from Excaliber and it has flowered heavily for 4 years in row and ZERO fruit have set. It is starting to flower again.  If it does not set any fruit this time, I am seriously thinking of renaming it "Excaliber Fruitless". 
FGM       
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Re: caimito fruit- star apple
« Reply #26 on: March 29, 2012, 09:57:28 PM »
As I said, some people love them. As far as the flavor being like "milk shake" I'm not really sure what you mean.  You mean like vanilla milkshake or another flavor.  Your description does not remotely express anything I've encountered and I wonder if I've been missing something in my caimito/starapple experience.  Oscar, your fruit is really quite impressive and do not doubt that it is one of the best, if not the best I have ever seen. Thankfully, we do not have flies attacking either of the two here in Florida so that negates that one serious issue you are having with abiu.  As far as overall attractiveness of the fruit, you are obviously correct.  The same goes for the foliage of the trees in comparison....caimito has the attractiveness down, for sure.

Neither, it is like a milk shake because it is juicy, milky colored juice, and sweet. Yeah you have been missing out on something. This is an excellent fruit, most people here like it. Abius and starapples are both very common in Hawaii, very different situation from Florida. I like both fruits a lot, but am inclined to starapple because it makes a lot more fruit, never is damaged by oriental fruit fly, and it is a much more attractive fruit to eat, both in color and interior star shape. Maybe also because i happen to have a really excellent tree. I just bought some little Haitian starapple fruits in market and they don't stand a candle to these bigger and sweeter fruits. The starapple tree is attractive enough to be planted as an ornamental, unlike the abiu. Also starapple makes a good shade tree.
Oscar
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murahilin

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Re: caimito fruit- star apple
« Reply #27 on: March 29, 2012, 10:06:45 PM »
Neither, it is like a milk shake because it is juicy, milky colored juice, and sweet. Yeah you have been missing out on something. This is an excellent fruit, most people here like it. Abius and starapples are both very common in Hawaii, very different situation from Florida. I like both fruits a lot, but am inclined to starapple because it makes a lot more fruit, never is damaged by oriental fruit fly, and it is a much more attractive fruit to eat, both in color and interior star shape. Maybe also because i happen to have a really excellent tree. I just bought some little Haitian starapple fruits in market and they don't stand a candle to these bigger and sweeter fruits. The starapple tree is attractive enough to be planted as an ornamental, unlike the abiu. Also starapple makes a good shade tree.
Oscar

You've just ruined it for me. I was about to email you for budwood in hopes that I could have a fruit that tasted like a vanilla milkshake. Keep on crushing my hopes and dreams...

fruitlovers

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Re: caimito fruit- star apple
« Reply #28 on: March 29, 2012, 10:18:07 PM »


You've just ruined it for me. I was about to email you for budwood in hopes that I could have a fruit that tasted like a vanilla milkshake. Keep on crushing my hopes and dreams...

Well wait a minute. Come to think of it i never add vanilla to my milk shakes. So i don't really know what a vanilla flavored milk shake tastes like! So maybe they do taste that way??? Buy one and find out. Too bad we can't email taste samples. Our technology is not as advanced as we like to think!
Oscar
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Re: caimito fruit- star apple
« Reply #29 on: March 30, 2012, 06:11:11 AM »
Here's my 2 cents....I have tasted Caimitos from many trees in SFLA, Puerto Rico and in Jamaica. They are a good tasting fruit but not nearly as tasty as a top notch Abiu like my Marisa tree or the Grey from Australia . It produces a delicious fruit so maybe those Hawaiian Abius produce inferior fruit.  Hard to say. We also do not have any fruit fly problems with them in my area YET.   I have a good sized Caimito that I bought from Excaliber and it has flowered heavily for 4 years in row and ZERO fruit have set. It is starting to flower again.  If it does not set any fruit this time, I am seriously thinking of renaming it "Excaliber Fruitless". 
FGM     
FYI we have all the good Australian abiu cultivars here, but you don't have all the good starapple cultivars in FL. In fact i doubt you have much above and beyond Haitian? Both these fruits are very common here, unlike in FL. You are lucky you don't have Oriental fruit fly yet, as soon as you do all your unbagged abius will look like this:

A picture they say is worth a thousand words? Maybe now you understand my point?
Oscar
Oscar

FloridaGreenMan

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Re: caimito fruit- star apple
« Reply #30 on: March 30, 2012, 06:44:22 AM »
Here's what my Florida Abiu look like....Regarding Caimito, there are several cultivars here including Lara2, Oro Blanco. Haitian is the worst in my ranking. One of my friends in Davie fruited several purple and green Caimito that produced excellent tasting fruit. Too bad Oscar that you are cursed with fruit flies on your Abiu but you are missing out!
Aloha...     





FloridaGreenMan

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Re: caimito fruit- star apple
« Reply #31 on: March 30, 2012, 07:24:18 AM »
Here's what my Florida Abiu look like....Regarding Caimito, there are several cultivars here including Lara2, Oro Blanco. Haitian is the worst in my ranking. One of my friends in Davie fruited several purple and green Caimito that produced excellent tasting fruit. Too bad Oscar that you are cursed with fruit flies on your Abiu but you are missing out!
Aloha...     




Noel - I would love to buy some of your Abiu when you harvest.  My tree is still a youngster and years away from fruiting.
- Rob

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Re: caimito fruit- star apple
« Reply #32 on: March 30, 2012, 07:44:32 AM »
Defnitely see your point, Oscar, in this case your picture is worth at least 2,000 words. .  Re" Australian abius......are you confident that Australia has some of the best?  I have no idea....your comment implies it.  I would think that they have decent ones anyway.  In my view, having had Noel's abius and not being exactly sure of my experience with caimito (although I have had a bunch including I beleive the ones from the friend of Noel in Davie....a neighbor of mine), this is not like a tremendous difference between one fruit being fantastic and the other being garbage. The fruits, for me, are more or less in the same general tier of overalll fruit evaluation. Which, again for me, is far below mango and lychee. I was only expressing a preference for Abiu......which I will mantain until I get the chance to try yours.

Harry
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Re: caimito fruit- star apple
« Reply #33 on: March 30, 2012, 07:52:32 AM »
I have 2 huge trees of caimito (the 'green' type).  One tree produces loads every year (fruiting now), the other tree hardly produces any.
I like the flavor, but the sticky lip problem keeps me from eating them without a spoon!

HMHausman

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Re: caimito fruit- star apple
« Reply #34 on: March 30, 2012, 08:04:52 AM »
I have 2 huge trees of caimito (the 'green' type).  One tree produces loads every year (fruiting now), the other tree hardly produces any.
I like the flavor, but the sticky lip problem keeps me from eating them without a spoon!

Yep...its the Pouteria curse.  And yes, you can get around it or not near it with a spoon....but that latex is a defintely a detracting factor for me.  There always seems to be nore fruit that should be edible as you are eating the fruit.  But, you dare not get that greedy unless you want stuck lips.

Harry
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Tomas

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Re: caimito fruit- star apple
« Reply #35 on: March 30, 2012, 08:48:17 AM »
Hi,

If you live close to Delray Beach, Florida, you can visit "Truly Tropical". The owner is very nice. A few years ago I was there and he gave me a tour and I tasted many of his fruits including star apple from his large tree.

Tomas

bsbullie

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Re: caimito fruit- star apple
« Reply #36 on: March 30, 2012, 10:12:56 AM »
Hi,

If you live close to Delray Beach, Florida, you can visit "Truly Tropical". The owner is very nice. A few years ago I was there and he gave me a tour and I tasted many of his fruits including star apple from his large tree.

Tomas
The owner of Truly Tropical is a woman.
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FloridaGreenMan

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Re: caimito fruit- star apple
« Reply #37 on: March 30, 2012, 02:34:47 PM »
Harry
My other friend from Davie was Mario L. He grew some excellent Caimito that were large sized. The foto shows the green skinned version but he also grew some awesome purple ones.

Sorry Oscar but you do not have the market cornered on good tasting tropical fruits. Florida has produced many of the cultivars that you are growing on your farm whether you want to admit it or not!     
 



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Re: caimito fruit- star apple
« Reply #38 on: March 30, 2012, 03:37:06 PM »
Defnitely see your point, Oscar, in this case your picture is worth at least 2,000 words. .  Re" Australian abius......are you confident that Australia has some of the best?  I have no idea....your comment implies it.  I would think that they have decent ones anyway.  In my view, having had Noel's abius and not being exactly sure of my experience with caimito (although I have had a bunch including I beleive the ones from the friend of Noel in Davie....a neighbor of mine), this is not like a tremendous difference between one fruit being fantastic and the other being garbage. The fruits, for me, are more or less in the same general tier of overalll fruit evaluation. Which, again for me, is far below mango and lychee. I was only expressing a preference for Abiu......which I will mantain until I get the chance to try yours.

Harry

I mentioned Australia because they did the most breeding work on Abius, coming out with cultivars like Grey, Z1, Z2, Z3. One of the people involved with this breeding lived here in Hawaii and introduced them all long time ago here.
About taste of caimito, it is not a simple sweet taste, as you mentioned in previous post, it has complex berry like tones in it. Hard to explain tastes but that's closest i can describe. Also you describe starapple negatively as gelatinous, but abiu has very similar texture in my opinion. We have plenty of fine tasting abius here and i eat them all the time. Like i said before i like abius very much. Also they are available for sale in farmer's markets. It's just a pain to go through extra work of protecting them against fruit flies. Here is a photo of some fruits w/o fruit fly damage:

Oscar
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Re: caimito fruit- star apple
« Reply #39 on: March 30, 2012, 03:38:20 PM »
I have 2 huge trees of caimito (the 'green' type).  One tree produces loads every year (fruiting now), the other tree hardly produces any.
I like the flavor, but the sticky lip problem keeps me from eating them without a spoon!

I find this sticky lip problem much worse with abius.
Oscar
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Re: caimito fruit- star apple
« Reply #40 on: March 30, 2012, 03:40:02 PM »
I have 2 huge trees of caimito (the 'green' type).  One tree produces loads every year (fruiting now), the other tree hardly produces any.
I like the flavor, but the sticky lip problem keeps me from eating them without a spoon!

Yep...its the Pouteria curse.  And yes, you can get around it or not near it with a spoon....but that latex is a defintely a detracting factor for me.  There always seems to be nore fruit that should be edible as you are eating the fruit.  But, you dare not get that greedy unless you want stuck lips.

Harry

Yes, but let's face it, if you want to put a fruit down you can always find ways to do it. Like many people say they don't like mangos because they are too messy to eat!
Oscar
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FloridaGreenMan

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Re: caimito fruit- star apple
« Reply #41 on: March 30, 2012, 08:26:32 PM »
If you let your Abius fully ripen, the latex is minimal. However if you are an Abiu pig like me and eat 3 or 4 at a time, the latex can build up. One time I gave a  chunk of a ripe Caimito to a "fruit-neophyte" friend and before I could say anything he had chewed and swallowed the entire thing skin and all. He remarked that it tasted like a melted rubber ball. I laughed like heck...Live and learn           
FloridaGreenMan

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Re: caimito fruit- star apple
« Reply #42 on: March 30, 2012, 10:13:31 PM »
When collecting in the state of Yucatán, México, I have purchased several caimito fruits at least as big as Oscars, in markets.  I liked them a lot.

I have never been favorably impressed with any I have eaten here in Florida.  Nor with abiu I've eaten in Florida.
Har

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Re: caimito fruit- star apple
« Reply #43 on: March 30, 2012, 10:25:01 PM »
Harry
My other friend from Davie was Mario L. He grew some excellent Caimito that were large sized. The foto shows the green skinned version but he also grew some awesome purple ones.

Sorry Oscar but you do not have the market cornered on good tasting tropical fruits. Florida has produced many of the cultivars that you are growing on your farm whether you want to admit it or not!     
 


The only Florida cultivars i have on my farm are mangos and a few avos. Can't think of a single other tree i have that was developed in Florida. I'm one of the few here growing these Florida mangos to trial them out and see how they perform here.
Oscar
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Re: caimito fruit- star apple
« Reply #44 on: March 30, 2012, 11:11:18 PM »
Harry
My other friend from Davie was Mario L. He grew some excellent Caimito that were large sized. The foto shows the green skinned version but he also grew some awesome purple ones.

Sorry Oscar but you do not have the market cornered on good tasting tropical fruits. Florida has produced many of the cultivars that you are growing on your farm whether you want to admit it or not!     
 


The only Florida cultivars i have on my farm are mangos and a few avos. Can't think of a single other tree i have that was developed in Florida. I'm one of the few here growing these Florida mangos to trial them out and see how they perform here.
Oscar
Oscar - I may be wrong but I think Noel was saying that the cultivars you are growing are also grown here in Florida and have produced crops equally as good...of course, I could be wrong in my interpretation.
- Rob

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Re: caimito fruit- star apple
« Reply #45 on: March 31, 2012, 04:01:29 AM »
Geesh!!! You guys in Florida are so lucky!!  Is there anyone that is willing to sell and send me some Abius and/or Purple Caimitos, please let me know.  I would love to buy some.  Otherwise, I fear it may be a long long time before I get the pleasure of tasting any.  Please PM me or send me an e-mail if you are willing to sell me some fruit.

Thanks,

Jacob

FloridaGreenMan

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Re: caimito fruit- star apple
« Reply #46 on: March 31, 2012, 06:58:43 AM »
Harry
My other friend from Davie was Mario L. He grew some excellent Caimito that were large sized. The foto shows the green skinned version but he also grew some awesome purple ones.

Sorry Oscar but you do not have the market cornered on good tasting tropical fruits. Florida has produced many of the cultivars that you are growing on your farm whether you want to admit it or not!     
 


The only Florida cultivars i have on my farm are mangos and a few avos. Can't think of a single other tree i have that was developed in Florida. I'm one of the few here growing these Florida mangos to trial them out and see how they perform here.
Oscar

Oscar
How many Hawaiian cultivars can you readily find? The only one I have ever seen here is the Alano Sapodilla and I have one. After growing it for several years it is getting yanked out because it is slow growing and the fruit quality is lousy compared to Hasya or Molix (Mexican cultivars).  Pls tell me which other Hawaiian developed cultivars of any type are worth growing because I am not aware of any.








     



FloridaGreenMan

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Re: caimito fruit- star apple
« Reply #47 on: March 31, 2012, 07:06:18 AM »
Plants originating in Hawaii:  Kaimana lychee comes to mind immediately.  I am also growing Kau Dwarf and Rapoza mango that I am sure are Hawaiiian.  There must be others.  Checking.

Harry
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bsbullie

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Re: caimito fruit- star apple
« Reply #48 on: March 31, 2012, 08:04:04 AM »
Plants originating in Hawaii:  Kaimana lychee comes to mind immediately.  I am also growing Kau Dwarf and Rapoza mango that I am sure are Hawaiiian.  There must be others.  Checking.

Harry
I believe there is another Hawaiian dwarf mango but I am currently drawing a blank on the name.  I have had the Rapoza and at least one of the "dwarf" fruits and I can honestly say it was ok but nothing spectacular (a lot of mangoes would be grouped in the category, especially the Florida cultivars).
- Rob

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Re: caimito fruit- star apple
« Reply #49 on: March 31, 2012, 03:11:53 PM »
Plants originating in Hawaii:  Kaimana lychee comes to mind immediately.  I am also growing Kau Dwarf and Rapoza mango that I am sure are Hawaiiian.  There must be others.  Checking.

Harry

Plenty of mango, avocado, banana, papaya, and a few citrus cultivars developed here in Hawaii. Main problem is we don't have a very active breeding program as govt. allots very little money to this.
Oscar
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