Inca Gold found?

[Mike T]

While grabbing a few fruit from around a few haunts this morning I almost overlooked something interesting.

Not the golden soursop

Big passionfruit or Russell's rollinia




But an abiu with virtually no latex, yellow very tasty flesh and a spherical shape. Although small the tree had not been looked after. Gray that Whitman spoke fondly about, the ass kicking Z4 and Z2 and even E4 can still be found here from collections originally made in Colombia and other places over 40 years ago. The best selections from those collections actually became those elite types but inca gold that was mentioned by a few people of that era and those events was lost. I was told it was yellow fleshed and basically like that in the picture and it was forgotten who grew it and what became of it.

[Mike T]

I think we all should be on the lookout for berried treasure.

[Mike T]

Ok other fruit highlights in that lot are the extra large passionfruit which is not panama but even better quality. The Russell's rollinia is sputnik style high quality also. The jack is dwarf jack fruit and reticulata yeah that is a good one alright.

[Hylo]

Mike, how does Inca Gold compare to E4....my fav?

[Mike T]

You have eaten E4s? The tree of the single Inca gold I saw was more upright and leaves are narrower. The fruit is deeper yellow, smaller than E4 and un-nippled. The flesh is firmer and equally clear of bruising and staining that effect some others and it is also very low on latex. The flavour is more caramel and less vanilla than E4.

[Hylo]

Yep, also have a seedling E4 planted....yet to fruit.
On the lookout for other superior varieties. Thank you for your description...looks like Inca Gold is now on the list!

[Mike T]

I ate fruit from this tree previously and they are good. What makes some types good is primarily rich flavor, low latex, big fruit, one or two seeds only, and resistance to bruising and brown marks in the flesh. I don't know for sure if inca gold is a real name or if this is it. I do know Z4, Z2, Gray and E4 are good named ones worth chasing.T35 from the northern Territory came out high in trials but I haven't seen or tried it. There are other good ones I have seen in markets and on people's trees but there has been no name to go along with them.
I have seen lots of poorer ones as well that are small, seedy, bruise easily, have brown almost water marks in the flesh and are very prone to exuding sticky latex. The best ones are nearly always spherical.

[ofdsurfer]

Looks great Mike!

[ScottR]

What ever that variety is Mike, it sounds and looks delicious.

[Mike T]

They are quite different from the z4 and here is a tray of z4s off to market.

[Mike T]

A friend admiring an E4 fruit recently but it wasn't a big specimen.