I have shown pix of large and small leafed mangosteens and some that are more cold tolerant than others well here is 2 mangosteen fruit types that the enthusiast can tell apart.Borneo small leafed mangosteens that have more cold and sun tolerance than most have more elongate fruit towards the tip and only a small terminal star.Most thai forms are round, with big stars.This large fruited thai with intermediate leaves is next to a Borneo small leafed type.




Unfortunately I could only get a few of the highly fancied borneo small leafed types as the whole crop was sent to Sydney.I have eaten a few and only have one seed so far as they are almost seedless.All mangosteen types have a distinctive taste.The borneo ones here are exquisite and the thai ones are way better than that.Both are better than the common Malays I showed last week.

Today I finally got my hands on an amber jackfruit.Although a runt and mis-shapen it was the real deal and miles ahead of any other jack I have tried in the taste department.I have tried alot of types and nearly all the named ones available here and in much of SE Asia.Amber fetches the highest price in the Sydney markets by far due to its wonderful taste.
 

These mangosteens acquired today are just the common Malaysian types with medium sized leaves and fruit.The are not a type known to have any tolerance of cool weather or strong sun.

On earlier Garcinia threads the differences between G.dulcis and G.xanthochymus were pointed out to me.A sweeter and larger than standard G.xanthochymus caused some confusion.I have trouble also working out why I keep seeing Garcinia dulcis in 2 very different forms.One grows to be a well formed tree.



The other hardly forms a real trunk and is more of a spreading bush.I had fruit of this particular plant 2 years ago and they were small but sweet with only a feather of tartiness.I have now seen a few duclis that have this form in spite of being a few years old.

This one has a few flower buds.

In a long past thread I mentioned that there are some salaks that are better than the rest and trhis is largely due to them being improved in cultivation.I failed to mention much about how to tell them apart.


In the Salacca zalaccas the subs amboina from bali are way tastier than the rest including pondohs are yogyartas.Once in bali there are several dark skinned,large seeded lowland types and a paler sweeter,smaller seeded upland type that prefers cooler weather.This type is gula pasir.

The other very good species is Salacca wallichiana from thailand and the 'sala' types in particular which have loose skinned sweet juicy fruit.


With improvements the plants have gotten smaller and less spiny, while fruit have been getting sweeter.Sala sane is alright tasting and is a spiny plant,sala moh is common in the markets with a good sour sweet blend and the plant is smaller and less spiny than moh,sala noen wong has just a few spines on a small plant and fruit are sweet.Sala sumalee has the smoothest and smallest plants with thesweetest fruit.


Sala noen wong at the front and sala moh at the back,


Young sala sane that is spiky.


A lovely quite smooth sala sumalee.

We have seen many melons in the last few months.Remember the various cantaloupes, honeydews and mango melon?




Some people can look at a melon and know what it is and what flesh color it has straight away.So what about this one? What flesh colour will have?

It is 3 weeks into spring in the southern hemisphere and the winter fruits are giving way to those of spring and summer.The papayas are all getting ripe at once including the 2 pictured solos and a skybury red,purple flavicarpas that are sweet are everywhere and the rockmelons are getting common.Mangoes are onlu trickling in and the bush lemons are winding up.

A lovely lovi lovi


Cherry guava




Black sapote





Inga edulis





Galip nut



Fiji longan

Bush lemons in queensland are a feral citrus with rough skin that is very disease resistant and hardy,great rootstock for other citrus and originally grew from discarded fruits and seeds.They are the preferred lemon of many people and giant trees that are decades old can sometimes be found in the bush.A friend brought these two fruit back from upland rainforest at 3000 feet where foresters logged about 60 years ago.

From up north where summer begins in winter the early season mangoes are even earlier than usual.It might be less than a pound and not perfect in its skin with poor color but it taste complex,sweet and rich.Judging by all the flowering trees around it will be the mother of all seasons.







It is still 13 weeks until the peak of the season.

This duku-langsat has been in the ground for over 2 years.


This longkong has been in the ground for nearly 5 years.


This duku var. johor has been in the ground for 6 years.

They all have similar growth forms being wider than the lankier langsats.Their fruits are quite different from each other as I'll ind out any time now but all have larger and sweeter fruit than langsat.

Today 'yellow sapotes' were offered to me.They are 'from the cold part of the tablelands, but don't grow as well here in the lowlands.Is this picture enough for an ID? It looks suspiciously like the one i have never seen before but it just might turn out to be the one it probably is.When the first is ripe tomorrow it may be easier to identify after a dissection and autopsy.