For those of you that have sampled the Leo Hybrid #3, what do you think about the fruit, the good and the bad. I’m interested in honest opinions about this fruit because I feel it is relatively unknown but it is extremely high quality and more growers should include this selection in their orchards.
To me, the major downside to this variety is the bumpy skin which can easily get damaged in transport, just like El Bumpo.
The pros to this selection is the late harvest season, excellent taste and the fact that also gets fruit without hand pollination.
We need more growers to report wether or not they are getting fruit without hand pollination.
Simon
As far as season is concerned, I'm not sure if it really matters that much give how one can manipulate the flowering by selectively defoliating branches in order to stimulate off blooms. For instance, I have a Concha Lisa (Cherimoya) fruit at the same time as the fruit that Leo donated. This is mostly due to summer pruning of branches.
I can only Judge on the the two fruits Leo was kind enough to donate to me, and I like my fruit on the riper side, so all comments will be in regard to the overripe fruit I have consumed.
Most of what I can compare it to has been fruit I have sampled from the Irvine tastings over the years. So use your judgement of the general quality that can be sampled there to get a baseline for my review.
OK, I know that tastes and flavors can get a bit confusing, so I will try to divide the attributes in to their own categories to keep everything understandable.
Taste: Tastes are things like sweet, sour, and salty. I have to say, after trying a slice of the Leo #3 I now understand why many say they have trouble finishing a single mango in one day. The fruit is incredibly sweet, so sweet it almost has an astringent 'bite' to it. The only other thing I have tasted which is as sweet and likely to cause a stomach ache is Mizu-ame, a Japanese fair food which is a syrup made from broken down starch. After a few bites of it or Leo #3, a stomach ache can be anticipated. I like this level of sweetness, but I can only handle a little at a time. Certainly I have never tasted a cherimoya at the tastings which even came close in the sweetness department.
There seems to also be a very mild sub-acid component which previously has been likened to rasperries or blueberries. I can taste a slight sub-acid component, but in the ripe stage I consumed the fruit, it was quite subdued, I may consume it on the less-ripe side in the future at least I think I would prefer a little more acid. It wasn't as sour as an El Bumpo or Sabor to my memory.
Texture: I know this is a big sticking point for many people, some who prefer a hard fruit to a soft one, or a melting one to a chewy one. I don't mind different textures as much as some, as long as there is no objectionable fiber. I found that the texture on Leo#3 was interesting, quite a bit firmer than any cherimoya I have sampled in the past, probably due to the Squamosa genetics. Not quite chewy, but very juicy. The flesh had some segmentation going on, and while not being melting soft like a white sapote or dead ripe cherimoya, it was like a jackfruit in texture, though instead of being chewy the flesh did break down in a smooth (read:melting) way. There was a slightly fleshy sac around the seed, but not objectionably so. There was some grit nearer the skin, but enough flesh to where you could cut those parts away and not feel too bad. Also, these fruits were so ripe that there were bruises on the outside, but somehow the inside doesn't seem to be damaged (like some mangoes). These last issues could probably be avoided by consuming the fruit on the less-ripe side.
Flavor: This is where I get interested, as I find flavors to be far more varying than tastes or textures, which is why I feel Annonas are special. From what I have tasted in past years at the tastings in Irvine, I broadly categorize cherimoyas into three flavor profiles. Tropical/fruity: Anything from pineapple to apple to melon or banana. Floral: on the mild end, some fruits taste of berries, on the intense end, they can enter the lavender range. Butterscotch/Caramel: I have felt that the dominant flavor in some samples has been more comparable to dairy derivatives than to anything else I have tasted in the fruit world.
So where did Leo#3 fall? I feel it was on the extreme mild end of floral in the overripe state. I didn't get much flavor from in at all. Certainly it did not fill the room with any particular aroma when sliced open, nor could I taste it on my breath hours after consumption like you would with an Alphonse. I would compare that experience to the Concha Lisa I cut open a day or so later. The Concha Lisa had an extremely intense aroma falling into the Tropical/fruity category. The aroma was like the distillate of a Fuji apple, with a slight back note of bubblegum like you taste in some muskmelon varieties(read:melon).
So to summarize, I think the Leo#3 is one of the better varieties I have sampled if not just annona, fruit in general. It has an extremely sweet taste, mild flavor, and unique melting-jackfruit texture. The shelf life seems better than most cherimoya, and it doesn't spoil if damaged. The seed to flesh ratio was acceptable, and Leo does not pollinate, so these fruit were produced without human intervention.
My grafts have all pushed, so in a couple years I will have more info.