Author Topic: Akebia how long wait for fruit  (Read 981 times)

Giannhs

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Akebia how long wait for fruit
« on: March 07, 2021, 11:04:01 AM »
Hi! i have never seen an akebia unless in photos, so can you please inform me about the fruit: how long will it take to produce fruit since i plant it? In other words, how old should the plant be to produce fruit? Do the fruit fall from the vine when ripe? I have read that the fruit "case" is bitter, but does it lose all bitterness if kept overnight in water? Or should we notch it before immersing in water to remove the bitterness? How would you describe the taste of the pulp and of the "casing" of the fruit? Are flowers or leaves eatable?
Any known danger to the vines like maybe harmed by direct sunlight? Harmed by shade? Harmed by watering during winter? How tolerant to wind? To occasional snow?
In the few recent years here temperature did not go below zero, but usually there is snow once every year.
Thank you!

Daintree

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Re: Akebia how long wait for fruit
« Reply #1 on: March 07, 2021, 10:06:23 PM »
Akebia is pretty much a weed. Not much can damage it.  Won't bloom in deep shade, but will bloom and fruit like crazy in full sun. You must have two different varieties to get fruit. 

I have never eaten the pods.  Towards fall, the pods split open and you scoop out the custard-like fruit. the pulp is creamy and tastes a little like coconut and vanilla pudding.  I love it! You can eat young shoots, and supposedly you can make tea from the leaves but I never have.

The fruit wont fall until it is over-ripe and dried up, so just pick it. I don't know of anything you can do with the fruit other than eat it fresh.  It is difficult to separate the seeds from the pulp, and the seeds are very hard and bitter.

It should bloom and fruit the first or second year.

It can be quite invasive.  We have it coming up all over the yard.  We are zone 6 and it freezes and snows every year.

Giannhs

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Re: Akebia how long wait for fruit
« Reply #2 on: March 08, 2021, 12:41:24 PM »
Thank you Daintree! You say the seeds are bitter. Can't we simply swallow the seeds so as not to taste them? Aren't they small enough to swallow? What do you do with the seeds, chew them or swallow without chewing? I have read that the pods are very tasty after you keep them in water overnight to remove the bitterness, the Japanese stuff them with mince meat and cook (or soy mince if you avoid meat). This sounds like the old Greek recipe of stuffing zucchini with mince and rice and cook. Worth trying.
I could not buy until now because i could not find quinata and trifoliata together, now i found two places to buy both, good luck!

Daintree

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Re: Akebia how long wait for fruit
« Reply #3 on: March 08, 2021, 01:14:29 PM »
You can swallow the seeds whole, but it is mostly seeds. 
In order to taste the fruit at all, you have to suck the pulp off the seeds.  Once you've done that, you might as well spit out the seeds.

Giannhs

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Re: Akebia how long wait for fruit
« Reply #4 on: March 09, 2021, 08:45:43 AM »
thank you, Daintree. Since you say the seeds are bitter, this means you chew them to know their taste. So, they cannot be so hard as, for example, opuntia cactus seeds (Opuntia Engelmannii, see my profile picture) which are too hard to be chewed by any human.

Today i was looking in my yard for a sunny place to plant Akebia, well there is a spot where Akebia can be planted to receive plenty of sunlight, but i wonder, maybe in zone 9b can they grow and fruit well in half-shade?

Plantinyum

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Re: Akebia how long wait for fruit
« Reply #5 on: March 10, 2021, 02:41:20 AM »
I have also bought myself two plants from different places, so hope to be enough genetically different to cross between. The taste review of coconut and vanilla sounds very good , and I have also heard u can use the outher casing for different cooking recipes...
Do they really root sucker that much ??

Daintree

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Re: Akebia how long wait for fruit
« Reply #6 on: March 10, 2021, 09:25:08 AM »
I dug up my akebia 6 years ago when we put raised beds in that area, and I literally have them all over the yard, including INSIDE my greenhouse (which is sitting on cinderblocks that are in a gravel trench), and across the yard at least 100 ft from the parent plants.  They are hybrids of the parents, and have not produced fruit.  However, they are easy to mow if they come up in the lawn.  My husband calls them "fragrant kudzu"...

Carolyn

Plantinyum

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Re: Akebia how long wait for fruit
« Reply #7 on: March 10, 2021, 01:30:01 PM »
I dug up my akebia 6 years ago when we put raised beds in that area, and I literally have them all over the yard, including INSIDE my greenhouse (which is sitting on cinderblocks that are in a gravel trench), and across the yard at least 100 ft from the parent plants.  They are hybrids of the parents, and have not produced fruit.  However, they are easy to mow if they come up in the lawn.  My husband calls them "fragrant kudzu"...

Carolyn
if this happens to me I will just dig them up, pot them and sell them cheap so I get rid of them 😁😁 u gotta be versatile, just like plants are ...

Giannhs

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Re: Akebia how long wait for fruit
« Reply #8 on: March 10, 2021, 01:30:24 PM »
the description is reminiscent of Chayote, which spreads far from its original seed, both in the earth and above. If it really fruits even the first or second year, it is worth trying it.