Yangmei fruit Myrica rubra pictures

[murraystevena2]

I have been buying the yangmei in the markets here in china since they first became available about a month ago and now the first ones that are kind of tasty have appeared. The flavor is like a familiar rubus berry, reminding me of a tart raspberry with strawberry cherry overtones. Fruits have all been acidic but are becoming increasingly sweet. Texture is a bit different but reminds me of a thimble berry crossed with a cherry due to the large stone in the middle. The second image is from two different types bought from different vendors. Notice the different texture of the flesh. The next photo is of a fruit that is grown locally here in beijing that the call Chinese cherry. I am not sure what prunus species it is but they have the texture of a pie cherry but are sweet like a sweet cherry and different. The last image is or my new favorite "vegetable", they are the new shoots of a toonia tree or chinese mahogany. Yeah I know its not a fruit, and its not tropical, but it does grow on a tree and taste great, kind of like chives, lemon grass and something else. I found out that they can not be imported to California but I will miss them as they are super tasty and very popular here. They are also grown as improved varieties and are a local domesticate.

[Mike T]

Toona is a genus usually associated with excellent timber and it maked me wonder if local ones in my area have good shoots as well.Yangmei seem to have a wide distribution in China and I bet the ones in Hainan and even Guangdong would do alright in the subtropics and even tropics.Even with GA3 and fridge treatment I had trouble getting seed to germinate.

[fyliu]

Great! A fist hand description of what yangmei tastes like. I still have not tasted a good fresh one.

I see toona (spelling?) seedlings sold all over the place in SoCal since ~3 years ago. I haven't tried it but they look like fast growers and the tender shoots should be good. Probably propagate well from cuttings too. First time I saw it was at 99 ranch in San Diego. Many Chinese nurseries and supermarkets have them as we'll. not sure if there are superior varieties of them.

[luc]

How do you germinate these seeds ? Scarification

[nullzero]

I am growing Toona sinesis beautiful foliage the leaves taste great fresh! So far the plant is easy to grow and very undemanding. Older leaves still taste good but are fibrous.

[murraystevena2]

Just bought some more yangmei today and they tasted way better. These ones taste almost like strawberries with rasperry aftertaste. Much less acidic but still high in acid compared to other fruits. Will post some photos later. I have been eating them from different vendors and have noticed a big different in flavors. Hopefully by the end of this summer I will be able to tell all the varieties apart from flavor

Also glad to hear that toon trees/chinese mahagony (its toona) are available in Cali. I read somewhere online that they were on the invasive species list and cant be brought in with the small lots of seeds permit so I thought that I wouldnt ever be able to eat them again. Here in china they are really popular and are grown in greenhouses so that they can be harvested earlier in the spring. They propagate very easily from underground roots so a barrier should be put up so they dont take over. They have some here with giant shoots like the one in my image below and pretty red colored leaves. As I said it is now one of my favorite vegtables here and am glad to hear that I will be able to eat them again I have been eating it with all my meals and it adds a whole new flavor to stuff that is hard to descripe. Good in a tofu stir fry or raw. Also they are supposedly high in protein.

[jez251]

Hi murraystevena2,

Just PM'd you...

Thanks,.
Jaime

[Felipe]

Nice! Thank you very much for your report from Beijing 

[fruitlovers]

As an aside, how is the air quality in Bejing? Is it as bad as has been reported in media? I've heard that it's way off the scale as far as pollutants and particulates.

[murraystevena2]

Yeah the air here is probably the worst in the world, though its not bad everyday when its bad its terrible. You need to wear a facemask when its really bad and you still end up coughing up black stuff. Around chinese new year it was unbelievable. There were reports on the news that 70,000 infants were hospitalized and the airport was even shut down for a bit. It was like everything was covered in a brown haze, I am from Bakersfield, which normally has the worst air in america and there is no comparison. The dust storms I think are over hyped though and arent that bad, much worse back home on the farm. Now its spring and the air quality has went up and after a rain its nice.

[fyliu]

I heard the dust storms got better in recent years. They're supposed to be from March to May.

[murraystevena2]

some new photos of more yangmei photos from 3 different sources.



In comparing the 3 different containers the top one was slightly smaller than the middle one but softer, less bumby and far less acid. Middle had more of a blueberry-y taste and was much more sour than the top ones. Top two were marketed as donghui but as I said tasted nothing alike. bottom one was from one day earlier fruit and far inferior, every once in a while a fruit would be super sour. After eating a almost a kg my teeth hurt but worth it. I will keep buying them as the flavor is getting better.

[SeaWalnut]

How do you germinate these seeds ? Scarification

To germinate Toona seeds i keep them in the fridge for 2 months in moist paper towel.They have low germination rates and ive buyed seeds from 3 different vendors until i finally got somme that germinated.Ive also tryed the australian toona( not edible) but didnt germinate  and after somme time ive read the seeds loose viability after 2 weeks.