I would love to get Brix readings from all these Opuntia selections. Nullzero, do you know which selection of Opuntia currently has the highest Brix levels? I remember you mentioned that PARL selections were selected to have Brix greater than 12%. I went back to this thread
http://tropicalfruitforum.com/index.php?topic=3935.50. and one selection I found had a Brix of 15% and another had Brix of 17% so I wonder if there are other varieties that are even higher? I tasted several green skinned fruit from the Mira Mesa farmers market that were very sweet but I did not have a refractometer back then. I will go back in Spring to see if the Green skinned Tunas are still available.
Nullzero, I believe that Fruit you collect from the mother trees on your expeditions may taste better tgan the same fruit when cultivated in our yards because the mother plants are older, fully established and I'm guessing they are rarely if ever watered. Many of us as gardeners tend to overwater our plants, especially when they are holding fruit, in order to pump them up to a large size but this can dilute the flavor and sugars. I withhold water to my Dragonfruit plants for 1-2 weeks, depending on weather, before I harvest and I notice an increase in Brix of roughly 2%.
I'm issueing an Amber Alert for the Opuntia fruit with the highest Brix! If I am able to find that super sweet green skinned fruit at the farmers market, I will as the seller if they are willing to sell me a pad or ten. I believe there will be much interest for the sweetest Opuntia fruit! BTW, the super sweet green skinned fruit had very hard seeds, similar to guava but it was so sweet that it's totally worth it. I'll keep everyone updated and thanks to Nullzero for getting me interested in this under appreciated drought tolerant medicinal fruit!
Simon
