In search of a tasty Pond Apple (Annona glabra)

[FlyingFoxFruits]

YES!  Red Durian, Mikesid!

THAT'S THE SPIRIT!

I think that's whats great about variability in annonas, there is a chance for a needle in a haytack. Every fruit we have was cultivated for its fruits at some point. Corn has a non-shattering variant, it has now way to reproduce itself without mans help,  and there is no known wild ancestor of corn....shows you the length men have gone to develop good varieties...every fruit is worthy of developing it to its potential..

Well said.  I think apples 2000 years ago would have been worse than some of the fruits we consider to have no commercial potential today.

[Soren]

Anestor has at least 3 different varieties, so that could also  be a starting point.

[mikesid]

A. Glabra has started ripening up...here is my first pics from trees around a lake in the City of Boynton Beach...they have a very strong apple smell to them...there were a bunch of iguanas gathered around munching on dropped fruits...will update on taste when I cut into them..

[fruitlovers]

Hi,

 I seem to recall Thurston, (from rarefruit yahoo group), mentioning that A. glabra is appreciated
in Guyana enough to be sold in markets.


EDIT. punctuation.

There was also a lady, Erica, now living in Venus, Florida, that posted on yahoo group that she had good tasting pond apple. She's posted on this forum also, but only a few times long ago.
Adam, i think there may be good tasting pond apples out there. Nature is always full of suprises, and is geared toward genetic diversity. I think it's worthwhile task...doesn't take much anyhow to always be on the look out. BTW, there is a similar situation with mountain soursop, with most of them tasting soapy, but some people reporting they have come across ones that are pleasant to eat. Another one to keep on the lookout for.

[Mike T]

There are several brazilian types referred to as sweet pond apples.I heard form one source that he knew of 4 improved pond apple types and sent a few seeds to me of what supposedly is the best.

[FlyingFoxFruits]

Mikesid, MikeT, fruitlovers,

thanks for contributing!

I hope we find a winner soon!

[Guanabanus]

There is a good-tasting pond-apple by the Rare Fruit Council meeting place in Melbourne, south of Cape Canaveral.

[Coconut]

Har what month did you eat it? Is the meeting place face across from the Indialantic bridge & which tree taste good to you in case no fruit & I have to take budwood.  Spend Decades searching for the Holy Grail of Annona glabra; have not found yet, has great potential commercial plantation exploit for marginal swamp land & that location I recall get hit with frost frequently.  I fish that area for Red Drum & Gator trout so I can stop & raid the place in October. Top-tropical pond apple fruit is an inferior glabra as pointed out, I had one and my Samurai Kantana took care of slicing the four inch diameter tree.  Har I hope your taste bud is better than the Top Tropical.  Har I am drueling over a pond apple that can be improve & someday have potential to rival any Annona so I can corner the market.

[FlyingFoxFruits]

Oscar,

I just realized my friend has a seedling from Erica's tree.

it's holding fruits for the first time...if he reports that the quality is good, I'll hound him for budwood. I trust his judgment...he's eaten lots of rare tropical fruits.

let's hope for a winner.

thanks for the lead!

[Guanabanus]

The Annona glabra in Melbourne is across the street to the west of the meeting place, between two buildings--- only plant there.  [I have not looked at it for 10 years or so, so am not sure it is still there.]

[Coconut]

Thank you Har.  I hope they have more babies,
Anything better than top tropical golden pond apple will be an improvement!

[Marsbars]

A. Glabra has started ripening up...here is my first pics from trees around a lake in the City of Boynton Beach...they have a very strong apple smell to them...there were a bunch of iguanas gathered around munching on dropped fruits...will update on taste when I cut into them..

Any update on the taste?

[FlyingFoxFruits]

A. Glabra has started ripening up...here is my first pics from trees around a lake in the City of Boynton Beach...they have a very strong apple smell to them...there were a bunch of iguanas gathered around munching on dropped fruits...will update on taste when I cut into them..

Any update on the taste?

Iguana fodder.

[gunnar429]

I hope your quest for a good tasting a. glabra isn't an exercise in "tilting at windmills."  The best of the ones I have encountered have been edible but not very eatable.  We have them up and down the canals throughout Davie.  I have sampled many of them over the years.  My advice, look for a different gene pool than what we have here in Davie. Good luck.

hilarious!

[gnappi]

My question is....with so many other delicious annonas readily available, why bother with a marginal fruit?

Agreed :-)

[Soren]

There are several brazilian types referred to as sweet pond apples.I heard form one source that he knew of 4 improved pond apple types and sent a few seeds to me of what supposedly is the best.

It shouldn't be Anestor? He told me, he had one which was good for juices...

[fruitlovers]

My question is....with so many other delicious annonas readily available, why bother with a marginal fruit?

Agreed :-)

Would be nice to find a good tasting pond apple because they are extremely productive, easy to grow, and will grow in flooded areas, and you never have to hand pollinate them.

[Mike T]

It was another Brazilian Annona campaigner and grower. He said one selection of pond apple in particular was pretty good. Maybe I should have shared the seeds and planted some instead of turning up my nose at them.

[davidgarcia899]

I've been grafting the pond apple seedlings that have sprouted in my pond. I now have a Custard Apples and a Soursop growing with fully submerged roots, im curios to see how they will grow in the long term.

[Coconut]

Har send me to a pond apple that is good tasting in Melbourne, Florida.  I have the plant growing & hope to see what its taste so Intrigue Har Many Years ago when he was a speaker at the Melbourne RFC.  Plant is seven feet tall grown next to rollinia.  Hopefully it should flower some time this summer.  Will grow in my pond up in Royal Palm if its a good selection to bred for better fruit.  Hell it ain't sexy but I keep trying to find this Pond Apple holy Grail.  Its has been fun chasing the A. Montana & A. Glabra  Holy Grails! If any one growing and breeding them that are closer than me to these two having delicious taste rivaling some of the other esteem annona please let me know, I would like to get some seeds.  The better selections have to be  enjoy au natural. 

[gunnar429]

I've been grafting the pond apple seedlings that have sprouted in my pond. I now have a Custard Apples and a Soursop growing with fully submerged roots, im curios to see how they will grow in the long term.

So, you are saying that you essentially have soursop and reticulata growing up out of the pond.  That sounds cool.

[davidgarcia899]

I've been grafting the pond apple seedlings that have sprouted in my pond. I now have a Custard Apples and a Soursop growing with fully submerged roots, im curios to see how they will grow in the long term.

So, you are saying that you essentially have soursop and reticulata growing up out of the pond.  That sounds cool.

Yep, I think that'll be the best pond apples I ever get lol

[Marsbars]

Annona glabra Pond Apple
This guy describes this anonna as a pond apple hybrid. Idk if what he says is actually accurate, but nevertheless its interesting.

[Guanabanus]

No.  The person on the video only referred to atemoyas as hybrids, when he mentioned that atemoyas could be grafted onto pond-apple used as rootstocks.

[Mike T]

There is a problem here with pond apple being a weed in coastal wetlands and badly impacting the native Melaleuca swamps. Pond apples were trialled and used as commercial atemoya rootstocks in a couple of locations for a short time and got away. Interestingly A.glabra in never used any more and hasn't in recent decades as it was considered an inferior rootstock.