August 2015 SoCal Mango tasting

[simon_grow]

Hello everyone,

I had one of the most perfect days in my life today! Thanks to JF, Peter, Leo, Jim and Mark among others for coordinating and contributing their knowledge and fruit on this absolutely beautiful San Diego day.  We had a fruit tasting at Peters amazing Park Hills Orchard and the fruit spread was amazing!  We had Mangos, Lychees, Cherimoyas, Jaboticabas, Sapodilla, Starfruit, Dragonfruit, Passionfruit and probably others I can't remember.  Peters Orchard has just about every type of top tier fruit imaginable and more importantly, he has made every effort to acquire the best tasting varieties of each type of fruit.  His orchard had so many fruit trees, I just gave up on taking pictures aside from the few I took in the beginning of the tour.  I'm not even going to touch on the stone fruit he has, it was overwhelming is all I can say. 

Well, its getting late and I have to work early tomorrow so I'm going to cut to the chase now and post the Brix readings of the Mangos that we tried today.  As per usual, I have to mention how difficult it is to pick fruit early and try to have them all ripen on the same day.  Some fruit were picked early, some were over/under ripe.  This is somewhat of an early season mango tasting and I feel that some of the mangos will taste better as the season progresses.  There were also many local varieties of mangos that were not on the tasting table because they are not ready for harvesting yet. 

[simon_grow]

Brix results, pictures will be posted by Mark.

[simon_grow]

[simon_grow]

Some Mangos that stood out for me are Coc, a med/large mango that tastes very good with a Brix of 22%.  Jehinger(i'm pretty sure I spelled this wrong) is the first white fleshed mango I've ever tasted and it had a unique and excellent flavor with excellent sugar balance, Brix 21%.  Ice Cream Mango is unbelievable, I thought it had a very strong complex flavor that I have not experienced in any other mango, others thought it was really good but I felt it was outstanding.  I detected something very exotic tasting in this variety that is difficult to put into words.  Probably my number one favorite for today was a Mango named Gary, It was very very very very sweeeeeeet.  It had a Brix reading of 29% and not only was it sweet but it was very tasty.  It was extremely creamy and had a slight coconut flavor according to my palate.  Now I know why the Zill family uses this variety for so many of their breeding projects.  I wish I can taste a Gary x Lemon Zest. 

It was great seeing many of my old friends and also seeing some new faces in the mix.  There were people from many different ethnicities on this tasting table and its incredible how some fruit brought us all together.  Many thanks to all that attended today! 

Simon

[JF]

Great tasting!! special thanks to our energetic host Peter and to Simon, a young smart  tireless worker, a true treasure to the rare fruit growers of Socal.

Here is a snap shot of Park Hills Orchard fast becoming the Fruit and Spice Park of Southern California



and a fraternal welcome! to our special guess Abayomi (Future) 

[FlyingFoxFruits]

whoa! super cool, thanks for sharing!

I got to taste most of those white fleshed mangoes you mentioned, and I agree 100%.

also, the brix analysis is great to have!

thanks again for the great info, and pics.

[johnb51]

"If I were a rich man..."  I would move to San Diego.  Beautiful!  (Except that it rains here on a regular basis--over 50 inches per year.)

[BrettBorders]

Very nice mango spread pic. Great brix info. We are almost done in Florida, wish I was there!

[JF]

Very nice mango spread pic. Great brix info. We are almost done in Florida, wish I was there!

We would love to have you here  Brett wie would welcome your expertise. Here are some more pix  of the gang in El Patron enjoy excellent Mexican cuisine

[bsbullie]

Just curious on a couple of points...was this blind and were the mangoes samed prior to determining the brix reading?

Me personally,  well i know many who feel this way, i am mangoed out for the 2015 season.  It would have to be a damn vood mango to make me want to eat it.  Most i have had recently  have been tastes and the rest shared or dumped in the ole bucket.

Bring on the 'moyas!!

[JF]

Just curious on a couple of points...was this blind and were the mangoes samed prior to determining the brix reading?

Me personally,  well i know many who feel this way, i am mangoed out for the 2015 season.  It would have to be a damn vood mango to make me want to eat it.  Most i have had recently  have been tastes and the rest shared or dumped in the ole bucket.

Bring on the 'moyas!!

Lucky you ..,. we are just beginning Rob. Moya's will start in late November
Abayomi took a pick of a large El Bumpo see if he post it

[Jani]

Just curious on a couple of points...was this blind and were the mangoes samed prior to determining the brix reading?

Me personally,  well i know many who feel this way, i am mangoed out for the 2015 season.  It would have to be a damn vood mango to make me want to eat it.  Most i have had recently  have been tastes and the rest shared or dumped in the ole bucket.

Bring on the 'moyas!!

Same here...

[Future]

Thanks to Peter for hosting, Simon for posting (and chronicling), and Frank for arranging my attendance.  It was indeed a great event with a surprising array of fruits.  Peter was tireless is prepping each fruit and everyone seemed to have a good time.  The yard is a real piece of work...a labor of love with great results so far. 

Note the Gary was bought on July 30 this making it 11 days at room temperature.  It was past its prime but as you can see from the comments, still rocked the house.  Ice Cream was also phenomenal on the day.  Coc amazed.  Those were my top 3 but there were some other good ones also. 

All in all, a great day.

[fyliu]

Thanks for posting the results. Looks like a really great event. I really want to move back to SD.

[JF]

Thanks to Peter for hosting, Simon for posting (and chronicling), and Frank for arranging my attendance.  It was indeed a great event with a surprising array of fruits.  Peter was tireless is prepping each fruit and everyone seemed to have a good time.  The yard is a real piece of work...a labor of love with great results so far. 

Note the Gary was bought on July 30 this making it 11 days at room temperature.  It was past its prime but as you can see from the comments, still rocked the house.  Ice Cream was also phenomenal on the day.  Coc amazed.  Those were my top 3 but there were some other good ones also. 

All in all, a great day.

You are welcome Abayomi the pleasure was ours. See if I can bribe you into returning next month to our La Habra tasting
Pic of SoCal legacy mango superior to Villa Seņor and Aloha
Paulito one of the oldest mango trees in SoCal 100 years old
AZ caressing the fruits

[simon_grow]

Hello Rob, this tasting was not blinded. It was more of a gathering of friends and fruit fanatics. Please note that the numbers in numerical order are Not our "favorites"ratings. I numbered the mangos we ate so that the pictures of each variety can be determined when Mark posts the pictures.

Besides the Mango, there were also some excellent Lychees. We had Brewster, Sweetheart  and Hak Ip at Leo's place and someone brought Sweet Cliff and Peters trees had some Mauritius on them. My favorite of the day were the Brewsters because of the extreme Lychee/ Rose flavor and aroma. Leo let us pick probably close to 80-100 pounds of fruit from his tree and after picking all the fruit, the tree looked like we didn't even harvest anything as it was still covered in Red. The Brewster lychees have large seeds but Leo's fruit had quite a few fruits with aborted seeds. I had one giant bag of Lychees in my car and after a few minutes, the entire car smelled of the most appetizing perfumy Lychee scent. I don't know if it's just Leo's soil or what but his Brewsters were out of this world. They were amazingly sweet, I'll see if I can get a Brix reading later, and I even thought to myself that I wouldn't want it any sweeter as it would be too much. I used to bag on Brewsters for having large seeds but now I'm even considering adding one to my collection or perhaps I'll try grafting a few branches onto my Longan.
Here is a picture of Leo's Brewster tree and a small cluster of Hak Ips.

Simon

[fyliu]

I recently saw a Brewster in Escondido propagated by Jim probably from Leo's tree. It's 3 ft tall but had a good set of fruits for a tree that size. It was a lone lychee next to a foot trail behind a friend's house. He planted it there. The nice thing about SD is the little bit of extra moisture is enough to allow the fruits to not dry out. My mom's Hak Ip in LA had good fruits but the skin dries and cracks open as they are just about to color up. June beetles move in and eat all the fruits.

[simon_grow]

Rob, to answer the second part of your question, the mango was first cut up and and everyone pretty much sampled the fruit while I was fumbling with my refractometer trying to get a reading and cleaning it off before the next sample. Some of the readings were surprising for me because they tasted tart to me yet they had a higher reading than some other Mangos that I felt were sweeter. This was probably cUsed by the acidity masking the sweetness.

Fang, that sucks about the drying up fruit and the June beetles. I wonder if the cracked fruit can also be caused by uneven moisture levels in the soil, lack of Calcium or lack of Silica if you are watering heavily.

Simon

[MangoFang]

I want to apologize to all the attendees - Simon,Leo, Frank, Ashok, Abayomi, Jim, Peter and others for "disappearing" just before the mango tasting.  I had mistakenly thought that the tasting was in the morning at Peter's and had told Frank I needed to leave at 1 pm to get back to Palm Springs to leave for L.A. for a business meeting with my partner, so when it was approaching 12:30 as we were
leaving the restaurant, I just decided to split since I barely would have reached Peter's before I had to leave......

Again....Sorry I missed all the real fun!

Gary

[simon_grow]

No worries Gary, I wondered where the heck you went. At least you got some good Mexican food. We missed you at the tasting. Hope you can make it to the next one.

Simon

[fyliu]

Thanks for the tips Simon. I will try adding calcium and silica for next year. The trees weren't being watered much if at all leading up to ripening because we've had cracking problems in previous years.

[bsbullie]

Rob, to answer the second part of your question, the mango was first cut up and and everyone pretty much sampled the fruit while I was fumbling with my refractometer trying to get a reading and cleaning it off before the next sample. Some of the readings were surprising for me because they tasted tart to me yet they had a higher reading than some other Mangos that I felt were sweeter. This was probably cUsed by the acidity masking the sweetness.

Fang, that sucks about the drying up fruit and the June beetles. I wonder if the cracked fruit can also be caused by uneven moisture levels in the soil, lack of Calcium or lack of Silica if you are watering heavily.

Simon

One thing you tipped on with respect to the brix reading and perception.   While I understand what your purpose is for keeping the readings, i also want to reiterate some reality and the general consumer.   Acidity csn and does plsy a large role in one's perception of how sweet the fruit is.  As you know, you can have a fruit with high acidity thst has a higher brix reading th a n one with no acidity and the fruit with no acidity will seem sweeter to the taster.  This will cause msny to rank and many times prefer or state the fruit with no or low acidity, but lower brix, to be the better and sweeter fruit.

I am not trying to discourage what you are doing but just enlightening you on something you may slready know, many people will choose a fruit based on their palate, not a brix reading.  They may actually question the brix readings if they acidity causes them to say thst that fruit is sour or not sweet when in reality it may be fery sweet with the sweetness masked by acidity.  Me personally,  I could care less what the brix reading, I am going by my taste.  Just a little food for thought.

[simon_grow]

Rob, I agree with you. I feel the Brix readings are a good recordable measurement tool but my personal perception of overall taste is what's most important to me. I do tend to prefer the sweeter mangos so the Brix readings can benefit me by helping me eliminate varieties that are known to be very low in sugar. I do not recall ever eating a Mango that I would consider top tier if it had a Brix lower than 20%.

Simon

[BestDay]

Wow guys, that looks like a great time. I'm jealous. I have a few questions. How many of those top tasting mangos where California grown?  We all know the fruit being grown in Florida or SoCal makes a big difference.

From the other people in attendance, what is your opinion of the Brewster lychee?  I'm getting ready to plant a lychee in my front yard and I was planning on planting a Sweetheart since Ong says there fruit almost yearly in SoCal. He stated the Brewster was an alternate bearer. Any opinions?

Lastly how do I make sure Peter marries my sister so I have constant access to his backyard?

Bill

[JF]

Wow guys, that looks like a great time. I'm jealous. I have a few questions. How many of those top tasting mangos where California grown?  We all know the fruit being grown in Florida or SoCal makes a big difference.

From the other people in attendance, what is your opinion of the Brewster lychee?  I'm getting ready to plant a lychee in my front yard and I was planning on planting a Sweetheart since Ong says there fruit almost yearly in SoCal. He stated the Brewster was an alternate bearer. Any opinions?

Lastly how do I make sure Peter marries my sister so I have constant access to his backyard?

Bill

Bill

Peter and I supplied most of the mangos. Abayomi brought 2 from Florida. The California legacy mangos ( Villa Seņor and Aloha) were from Rudy Haluza's yard. We hope to get more local late mangos in September most of the other varieties ripen in July. There are some late varieties that are excellent.