Scent of Mammea Americana is simply divine...

[BMc]

Mike, I tried posting this for you and David on the other forum, but its a mess of a website. Here's the tree in Cooktown. Heaps of fruit, but quite small.





Getting seeds of better ones would probably be prefferable to this one. If I get a chance I could talk to someone who still talks to MF in Cairns who used to propagate them and would know if/where superior specimens are over here...

[Cookie Monster]

Yah, I'm thinking it was summer.

PS, that really annoying new strain of white fly called spiraling whitefly seems to have an affinity for mammea american (in addition to palms, bananas, and just about everything else :-()

Harry, when do yours typically mature?

Excellent question.  Usually, they have been summer fruits.....which, as you can see isn't happenong this year. But wait, I just looked at the flowering to fruit time from Al Will's class notes and there it is indicated that it takes 11-13 months from flower to fruit. But, since the freeze of the winters a couple years back, seems everything is out of wack to some degree.  The class notes indicate spring to early summer as the normal fruiting time here in Florida.  I never pay that close of attention. But you and your wife were over and had fruit, I believe a few summers ago, when your wife made me that really good juice drink.....all it was lacking was the mammee fruit.  Wasn't that in the summer?

Harry

[Mike T]

BMc there is a whopper on Greenslopes Street in Cairns but I suspect it is not a good one.I have a feeling in my bones that they just might turn up in Qld before too long.
Spiralling whitefly prefer hot chillis over all other plants, but they are very partial tp eggplants as well.Palms and bananas are of moderate interest to the spiralling whitefly.

[luc]

Fruiting now , 3 trees 3 with fruit .

[HMHausman]

Very nice mamey, Luc........but I think he's talking about mammee apple (mamea americana).  We call the one your showing mamey sapote. At least that is what the Cubans call it.  Mamey you're showing is (Pouteria sapota).

[luc]

Very nice mamey, Luc........but I think he's talking about mammee apple (mamea americana).  We call the one your showing mamey sapote. At least that is what the Cubans call it.  Mamey you're showing is (Pouteria sapota).

You are right , I uploaded the wrong pic , sorry about that .

[gunnar429]

Does anyone have info on 'Redlands' or 'Kay Sweeney' Mammea americana (Mammee Apple/Abrigo)?  Fairchild Farm's blog says they can routinely be found in Miami area if one looks hard.  I have a grafted tree from Benders Grove that was from the tree at TREC in Homestead (IIRC).  I know Oscar grows Waimanolo and something with Fairchild in it, but would rather get a grafted tree of different origin than the TREC tree.  I like to have at least 2 of each plant for cross-pollination purposes and possible extended harvest season.

Anyone have info on these or other types of grafted Mammee Apple trees here in Florida?

Thanks

[Guanabanus]

I hear that the original tree at Fairchild Tropical Garden has died, I assume due to delayed decline from hurricane damage.  So if there are some grafted ones from it, that would be worthwhile, as it is self-fruitful.

I have heard favorable comments about the tree at Mounts Botanical Garden, which is self-fruitful. (And the tree at the Broward Rare Fruit and Vegetable Council's property?)   I haven't tried either one.

My tree is male only.

[Cookie Monster]

They're pretty hard to find. That cold winter a couple of years back knocked down a lot of mammea trees in homestead. Your best bet is to graft one yourself. They are easy to graft, but finding rootstock isn't all that easy. Sometimes Lara Farms will have a couple.

I have a flowering Jinotepe #1, obtained (through Sheehanmonster) from Richard Campbell's collection. It set out a sentinel flower earlier this year, and now has 3 -- which is impressive considering that the tree is only about 3 or 4 years old.

I also brought back 2 superior selections from El Salvador -- where the tree grows literally like a weed throughout the countryside. The gov't school of agriculture there sponsored a project to discover the best mammea cultivars throughout the country. (The idea was to encourage propagation and export of lesser known fruits.) I got my hands on budwood from what I considered to be the 2 best selections of the 7 or so that they had. One fruits twice a year... ! My goal is to find one that fruits outside of the gloried mango season, so in about 5 to 7 years, I should know if the bi-annual fruiter does just that :-). (I just hope that the plot map was correctly labeled :-)

Since I had such a hard time locating seeds here in FL, I brought back seeds from El Salvador and used them as rootstock :-). If you can get Harrymonster on a tight leash, you may be lucky enough to get a seed or two from him... :-)

I really like mammea. When we go to El Salvador in the spring time, I gorge on the fruit -- (so much so that I end up overdosing on fiber and generating a bit too much in the way of harmful exhaust fumes, much to the chagrin of family members :-). The name "tropical apricot" doesn't do the fruit justice; I think it's much better than apricot.

I have a limited supply of budwood for the Jinotepe #1 if you can locate roostock.

Good luck!

[gunnar429]

Ok, Jeff.  Thanks!!!!!!!!!   I will see what I can do as far as rootstock goes.

[Cookie Monster]

Here's a link to the write-up on the Jinotepe 1 and Dr Campbell's attempts to collect superior mammea cultivars: http://www.crec.ifas.ufl.edu/academics/faculty/burns/pdf/242-243.pdf

Jinotepe 1 is the only one listed as "excellent" quality, so that obviously caught my attention :-). I believe that he sorta gave up on the project when the cold from a couple of years back pouped on many of his trees.

I don't know whether jinotepe is self-fruitful, but I'm not sweating it since I'm going to plant another tree right next to him.

[gunnar429]

thanks.  I saw Grimal on there.  Wonder if that tree is still around...

[Cookie Monster]

u might want to see if you can get a hold of Dr Campbell. He may still have some trees. Lara Farms has a couple of trees that survived the cold. I know they have fairchild (that's where I got my budwood).

thanks.  I saw Grimal on there.  Wonder if that tree is still around...

[jez251]

Jeff, I've got some mammea americana seedlings. Let me know if you are interested.

Cookie Monster, I'd appreciate some jinotepe budwood if you can share some.

Let me know,
Jaime

[Cookie Monster]

Yah, I can share some.

Jeff, I've got some mammea americana seedlings. Let me know if you are interested.

Cookie Monster, I'd appreciate some jinotepe budwood if you can share some.

Let me know,
Jaime

[LEOOEL]

I really like Mammea Americana, it's just that when it's in season, there are other more popular fruit varieties that it has to compete with. I suppose a perfect scenario would be to have an Mammea Americana variety that produces ripe fruit during the winter months.

[Cookie Monster]

Yah, that's sorta my goal.

The other thing that I've learned to do is freeze my fruit to enjoy in the "off season." I got a gigantic chest freezer without auto-defrost (manual defrost keeps the stuff from getting freezer burn), and my wife is gracious enough to peel and store all the fruit when it's plentiful. Then during the "winter" months, I enjoy an endless supply smoothies (courtesy of my vitamix :-). Once mango season rolls back around, the freezer is low and it's time to pig out on fresh mangoes again.

Having a good selection of fruits to drop in the smoothie bucket is pretty important. The more sour fruits (eg, cas gruava, golden star (sour) carambola, jabo (rind is sour)) add flavor and kick, while the sweeter ones (banana, mango) give the mix sweetness without the need for sugar.

If you're a fruitaholic like me, the freezer / smoothie trick is invaluable during the weaker producing months of the year. New chest freezers are pretty expensive, but if you're a miser like me, you can find some swell deals on craigs list. The first thing to go is the run capacitor, but those are super cheap and not too hard to replace. The old kenmores were built to last, unlike the plastic chinese junk with name brand labels that they are pawning off on us these days.

I really like Mammea Americana, it's just that when it's in season, there are other more popular fruit varieties that it has to compete with. I suppose a perfect scenario would be to have an Mammea Americana variety that produces ripe fruit during the winter months.

[LEOOEL]

CookieMonster, I like what you say you're doing with Mammea Americana, it makes a lot of sense and very worth while doing. I hope you don't mind it but I'm 'gonna' copy what you're doing, which is to harvest the Mammea Americana fruit during the summer season, then freeze it while being careful it doesn't get freezer burn, and finally, consume it in the winter season.

A couple of weeks ago, I finally got a fruit juicer. So, juicing Mammea Americana in the winter would sure be a welcomed treat.

Is there just one variety, or one I should look for? And, how tall and wide do they grow? I may have a spot in my space constrained yard.

[bsbullie]

Leo - you dont want to "juice" or extract mammea americana (the Breville is a juicer).  You want to make a smoothie or shake from it, by using the likes of a vita mix, nutri bullet,  etc.

[Cookie Monster]

hehe, they're big trees :-). I don't know anything about how easy or difficult to prune they are, since my baby is still small. As far as cultivars, I don't think I"ve met one I didn't like. And, I think you'll be lucky to find a grafted tree anywhere, so whatever variety it is will probably have to do :-).

I actually prefer blenders (aka smoothie makers :-) to juicers. The juicer will tend to discard the pulp / fiber which is extremely valuable in one's diet. It also is what mitigates the effect of the fructose. The fiber keeps one feeling full (an aid in weight loss) and moderates the glycemic load of sugar laden fruit. With research pointing towards inflammation being the real culprit in heart disease (not cholesterol), keeping glycemic load low is a good thing. Fiber also helps speed up the time one spends in the "pit stop." :-)

CookieMonster, I like what you say you're doing with Mammea Americana, it makes a lot of sense and very worth while doing. I hope you don't mind it but I'm 'gonna' copy what you're doing, which is to harvest the Mammea Americana fruit during the summer season, then freeze it while being careful it doesn't get freezer burn, and finally, consume it in the winter season.

A couple of weeks ago, I finally got a fruit juicer. So, juicing Mammea Americana in the winter would sure be a welcomed treat.

Is there just one variety, or one I should look for? And, how tall and wide do they grow? I may have a spot in my space constrained yard.

[Cookie Monster]

Yah. Mammea would not be conducive to processing in a juicer.

A good blender can be costy (eg a blendtec or a vitamix), but if you spend some time on craigs list or ebay, you can score a basically new one for 40% to 50% off retail price.

Leo - you dont want to "juice" or extract mammea americana (the Breville is a juicer).  You want to make a smoothie or shake from it, by using the likes of a vita mix, nutri bullet,  etc.

[LEOOEL]

Yah. Mammea would not be conducive to processing in a juicer.

A good blender can be costy (eg a blendtec or a vitamix), but if you spend some time on craigs list or ebay, you can score a basically new one for 40% to 50% off retail price.

Leo - you dont want to "juice" or extract mammea americana (the Breville is a juicer).  You want to make a smoothie or shake from it, by using the likes of a vita mix, nutri bullet,  etc.

The juicer that I got is the 'Breville BJE820XL Juice Fountain Duo Juicer.'

This machine is also a smoothie maker, hence the  "...Duo..." in the name. So, yes, I'll be able to make fruit smoothies using this machine with fruits such as Mammea-Americana, mango, lychees, bananas, etc.

I'll report on the quality of the smoothies as soon as I make some. And, 'thanx' for reminding about the value of fruit smoothies over fruit juices.

[Cookie Monster]

OK. I didn't even know such a device existed :-).

Next purchase for you is a gigantic freeezer so that you can fill it up with goodies from the summer harvest... and pasture raised goodness from www.whiteoakpastures.com :-)

[LEOOEL]

Currently looking for a mammea-americana fruit tree, preferably one that is producing/grafted.

Yeah Jeff, I'll make some space in the freezer to then fill it with summer time fruit to enjoy during the winter.

By the way, is cacao (chocolate) and coffee the only (processed) fruit that tastes great as a hot beverage?

[Nispero]

By the way, is cacao (chocolate) and coffee the only (processed) fruit that tastes great as a hot beverage?

That made me think for a while ...
Hot lemon water, mulled wine and hot punch (like Feuerzangenbowle) contain fruit.