The Tropical Fruit Forum

I believe the original article that I read was in the American Fruit Grower Magazine. I can't remember the exact title, but is was at the back of the magazine and included a picture or two of some of the suspected progenitor species (at least one of which was native to China). They were hawthorne looking fruits and as I recall one was red and the other yellow. One was hard (crisp) and sour/bitter and the other soft (mealy) and sweet. The article mentioned how apples ended up with the better traits of both fruits. Since I can't find the original article here is another publication with a similar perspective.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/05/190527094118.htm%23:~:text%3DSeveral%2520recent%2520genetic%2520studies%2520have,together%2520and%2520causing%2520their%2520hybridization.&ved=2ahUKEwj_l8_-7IXzAhXnRDABHaBYCR4QFnoECAMQBQ&usg=AOvVaw2jYa-ztrZXqMxnfnF5oe96&cshid=1631876628223

As for the origins of the name apple (and its original meaning as fruit in general), here is an excellent and thorough article on the topic.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://medium.com/the-philipendium/a-web-of-word-connections-apple-94f9e95ec0b6&ved=2ahUKEwiKx4bT8IXzAhUURjABHf3rCIEQFnoECCsQAQ&usg=AOvVaw078bKobbsXuWFTiYNJNlC_&cshid=1631877885448

Also of interest in this article is the fact that the word Cashew comes from the original Tupi dialect. Persimmon, Saskatoon, and Chickisaw (plum) are also of Native American origins along with a slew of other fruit names for which the new commers had no conceivable parallel. People often try to associate unfamiliar things with what they know.

Although there is some discussion among experts, there seems to be a consensus that apples originally came from the far east (China) or at least central Asia and resulted as the hybrid of two Malus species that had substantially lower quality fruit. They migrated to Europe with the help of people and eventually became the most popular fruit there. In fact the word apple means "fruit" in the original English language. Now, thousands of years later we associate it with only one fruit, but in the original language it was just the generic word for fruit. This understanding clears things up quite a bit and the names make more sense when understood in that light. Thus, sugar apple originally meant "sugar fruit" etc.

At current amazon price, it is actually cheaper at amazon ($1.62/lb) when compared to 50 lb bag at Do My Own ($2.59/lb)

OK thanks guys for the info. I didn't think they were those Kuini mangoes because they didn't look like what I saw on the internet. Any clue what they could be? Are there any mangoes that taste like Durian but are not Kuini? lol

You should find the book on Herranias by Schultes, it’s available somewhere online for free. If you can’t find it, let me know and I can send it to you through Google Drive. It talks about all the herrania species individually. An interesting point is that the natives keep Herranias when they clear rainforest land for farming, holding the fruit in high enough esteem to warrant leaving the trees.

In my limited experience, the pulp was mucilaginous and not exactly pleasant texture-wise, but the flavor was good. In the above-mentioned book, Schultes notes that the natives prefer the fruit slightly unripe, perhaps because of the texture. Lemony taste I would describe it.

Probably you can make a kind of chocolate from the seeds, but I don’t know how good it would be. Seeds are quite different than theobromas, smaller and without folded cotyledons, but they contain both caffeine and theobromine. Also, some seeds I recently got that were starting to ferment (but not enough to inhibit germination) did smell kind of like chocolate (the same as fermenting cacao seeds).

If I was in a tropical environment, I would put herranias everywhere, as the trees are small, the fruit useful, and the flowers striking.