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Messages - strom

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1
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Cacao for sale at H-Mart
« on: February 12, 2025, 02:44:15 PM »
Congrats!  How's it taste?
The premier chocolate refiner (a tricked out wet grinder) isn't too pricey.  I've had mine for ~10 years, it's a lot of fun to whip out a couple times a year and makes for some seriously amazing silky textures, but omg what a pain to clean.

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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Cacao for sale at H-Mart
« on: February 07, 2025, 10:35:19 AM »
I think you can do it with a blender but it’s probably very annoying

Most folks who venture into chocolate making try this only once for a reason :)  There are plenty of other forums that go into chocolate making, and you can search if you are interested.  I don't recommend chocolate making at home because it is time consuming, messy, and wasteful.  I still do it, I have the right equipment, and enjoy it 2-3x a year to make a dozen bars of chocolate each time - I purchase a few kilos of beans ready to roast from a few online vendors/brokers.  A pod or two of cacao is like what greg_D wrote, a novelty.  Having a few trees full of pods, now that's goals one day I hope to achieve.

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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Cacao for sale at H-Mart
« on: February 06, 2025, 11:02:03 AM »
H-Mart in Irvine (westpark location) had some.  I took the largest, weighed in about 3lbs, the other two were very small.  Cost ~$20, I've never had this and unfortunately I won't be anywhere near ripe cacao fruit anytime in the next couple years.  "Cacao on the Cob", from "Sweet Seasons", produced by Hacienda Laia Margarita in Ecuador.

The flesh covering the seeds was very minimal, slimy, had a mild aroma of floral perfume similar to lychee, rose, etc.  Flavor was new to me, though reminded me of cherimoya first, then very mildly of fruits similar to lychee and rombutan and maybe mangosteen (been a while). 

Since I roast and make chocolate from cacao beans as an occasional hobby, I tried some of the seeds raw.  Super bitter, more so than their roasted counterparts.  Kind of a raisin/fig/dried-brown fruit flavor.

I also tasted the rind part.. it had no flavor, and as I chopped it up for the compost, it reminded me of a gourd so I tried roasting it.  After ~7 minutes, it changed to a dark grey color and softened up.  The taste reminded me of taro or generic tuber.  It was okay with salt I suppose.  No aroma.

I did eat all the "pulp" best I could, but couldn't get it all off, so peeled half the seeds and left the other half in the slimy coating.  Soaked overnight, all have little nubbies not sticking out.  I peeled the rest this morning.  Took about 45 minutes and my fingers are cramped up.  Total 45 seeds.  I read they have a tendency to mold quick, so I gave a 5-min soak in physan 20. 

Should I try growing these?  I don't have a greenhouse.  Coastal so cal Zone 10a.  I've read most people don't have luck.  As a houseplant it sounds interesting, however, though I used to have high humidity in my house that changed a couple years ago when I began using central air.  So.. hmmm.  Alternate is to roast and make chocolate, but now that they have a little root sticking out, no sure that is good idea.







4
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Lilikoi - Which Ones Do You Grow
« on: January 24, 2025, 11:33:11 AM »
I've always been under the impression one should wait for the outside of the fruit to become wrinkled before opening it up to eat.. interesting!

5
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: starting coffee from washed green seeds
« on: November 07, 2024, 04:32:23 PM »
Brian: several years ago the local Trader Joe's and Aldi stores carried seedlings for a few $, but they were random, unknown types, and I was super busy so I passed at the time.  Today I am hoping to find specific varietals, as my goal is more than just fruit, I'd like to experience the whole "make my own coffee" thing others have pursued and tired of :)
Daintree, cool!  I'll reach out to you by PM.
Seanny: yeah, I figured that's the best way, meantime I'm trying to figure out if it's possible to get the processed seeds to get past the root-nubby stage without rotting.

6
Tropical Fruit Discussion / starting coffee from washed green seeds
« on: November 06, 2024, 02:46:16 PM »
Hi!
I have read the ideal way to grow coffee from seed is via its fresh cherries, and that the processing coffee seeds go through ((washed, honey, natural, anerobic, etc) potentially reduces the chance of successful germination - note, I'm not talking about roasted coffee here, but rather the greens.  I've also read it takes a long time for them to germinate, 2+ months.

Last year I purchased a couple pounds of green coffee that was organic, washed process, from a generally low elevation, and recently harvested.  The idea here was that I was trying to get close to the same environment (I'm at sea level), and the recent harvest with washed greens means minimally processed, so hopefully this maximizes my chance of success.

The seeds are soaked in water overnight, and a large percentage of them develop a tiny little white nubby which looks like a root.  I then transfer these to a planting medium.  Within a few days, they completely rot out.  I have tried a variety of techniques to sanitize the seeds, sanitize the growing medium, different growing mediums, planting shallow, planting deep, etc, ever since last year.  I have found others have had such difficulty, and recommendation is always to get fresh cherries.

Doesn't look good thus far, so thought I'd check here with folks who may have better experiences or offer other suggestions. 

Thoughts?  Should I just try sourcing some fresh cherries locally, or perhaps find someone with seedlings instead of growing one from seed myself?

7
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Pineapple thread
« on: June 12, 2024, 06:21:37 PM »
Hi!  Late October 2023 my Cheese Pine variety began blooming.  Its eyes did not smooth out like other pineapples as it developed.

I picked it today, very aromatic.  Softball sized.  Mildly sweet, slightly dry for a pineapple, and no sourness at all.  I'm not sure if this is the variety or that it grew outside here in coastal so cal over the winter with nothing but marine layer and cool temps.  I did enjoy the pineapple. 

All that said, I think I'm going to stop growing pineapples until I have a larger property and room for a green house.  The plants look terrible coming out of winter.



8
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Persian Mulberry Fruits - in SoCal
« on: January 29, 2024, 07:47:57 PM »
Okay, thank you!  The sour, small sectioned one (not pictured) must be the persion mulberry.  That plant has not been growing well for us, I'll try to get it growing better.

9
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Persian Mulberry Fruits - in SoCal
« on: January 29, 2024, 06:46:49 PM »
Hi all, does this look like a persian mulberry?  Photos from last april/may, and the fruit was very delicious, great combination of sweet and tart.

There's another tree in the yard that has an even smaller fruit, and the little bobbles on it are larger and have little fronds sticking out from them, but they were rather sour.  There were a number of what I think are pakistani mulberries, 3-6" long fruit, pretty sweet but virtually no tartness.

Thank you for looking.






10
If you don't have the vegetable beds properly prepped, won't the mango roots eventually over-run the beds?  I don't know what their root systems are like, I'm dealing with this issue with other trees in my family's yard.

11
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Pineapple thread
« on: December 18, 2023, 01:54:19 PM »
We're right on six months and my costco or whole foods pineapple has begun to change color from green to yellow-green this week :)  I don't smell anything yet, taking a whiff daily, so, almost ripe, right? 


12
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Pineapple thread
« on: October 27, 2023, 05:20:31 PM »
Tropicaltoba: it's not very tall, and the leaves are mostly short - last winter was rough and I cut most back, probably why the pineapple is so small.  The trunk's diameter is nearly six inches.

My cheesepine began the flower/fruit phase the first of October, here is is now.  I'm kind of bummed because it means it will ripen over winter here, bah.  All the plants look great through the summer but are going to get pretty beat up in the winter here.  Would it make sense to maybe bring this cheesepine indoors?  Or just leave it outside?



13
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Pineapple thread
« on: October 27, 2023, 12:39:21 PM »
This small one's now five months.  It looks almost ready, I'm sniffing it daily waiting for the aromatic fragrance, but, likely needs one more month, right?  I'm rotating the pot every few days to even out exposure to sun (or actual lack thereof).  I'm pretty sure this is one of the MD2 types from costa rica, likely costco purchase.  I don't think they turn the same, full yellow color like the Maui gold ones?


14
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: SoCal Tropical Storm Watch
« on: August 21, 2023, 12:08:46 PM »
Wasn't as bad as last year's storm where I'm at (coastal south OC).  After no ants for a year, overnight, they invaded and my entire floor is covered in them, ugh.  Guess they wanted out of the rain.

15
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Pineapple thread
« on: August 15, 2023, 11:18:30 AM »
Quick update, this is roughly two months now since the bloom began.  It's probably going to be pretty small I suppose?


16
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Avocado thread
« on: July 06, 2023, 10:05:37 PM »
Hey: what would you all do with a ~10 year old, 13-15ft tall avocado tree grown from seed in a thin-plastic pot that is 24 inches wide and about 20 inches tall?   Hasn't flowered or fruited yet, leaves look super healthy, it's very possible roots have grown through bottom of the pot into ground.

17
Clitoria ternatea
Are butterfly pea beans/pods edible?  I thought they were toxic, only the flowers were safe to eat / steep in water to brew.  Or maybe I mixed it up with the Sweet Pea plant (which are grown for the aroma).

18
Would enjoy trying such varieties, can they be ordered for delivery to the US mainland like the sugarloaf from kauai, or durian from Malaysia, or was this something you picked up while traveling?

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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Pineapple thread
« on: June 23, 2023, 11:18:11 AM »
My pineapples look terrible coming out of our wet winter, I left them outside on the patio since I don't have land for a greenhouse and, well, no space inside.  Cheese pine looks the "healthiest" so far, following by one of the grocery-store twist tops which is going to be my very first one to bloom!  This is a twist top from either a costco, whole foods (costa rica), or gelson's pineapple (Maui Gold), and I think finally rooted in 2019 after so many failed attempts. 

20
The Ralph's next to me gets them on occasion for $5.99 (I just picked up a couple yesterday, they taste a little better than the green stuff in costco right now).  H-Mart carries them for around $12, and you get a cardboard box.

21
Keep in mind the credit card companies have a limit when you can open a dispute, so if this is something you plan to pursue, make sure you are not hesitating.  I was outside the time period so missed out unfortunately.

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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Pinkglow pinapple
« on: April 02, 2023, 11:32:17 PM »
There's at least one Ralph's in south county OC CA that has these pink glows $6 each.  That's a bit better than the $26 I paid over a couple years ago :)

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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Achacha in California?
« on: March 20, 2023, 08:54:48 AM »
Is there a way to tell the lucs vs achacha seedlings apart?  I errr I mean a friend of mine mixed them up :-[

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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Grumichama
« on: November 26, 2022, 09:00:50 AM »
Okay, thank you both!
Yes, J45, these are the ones from you, thanks again :)

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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Grumichama
« on: November 23, 2022, 11:56:42 AM »
Hey, what should I do if I have two 1-year old seedlings per 4" pot of these?  Separate them when I up-pot, or leave them together?

I germinated several grumichama last year, but was out of materials and space, so put two seeds per 4" pot. :p  I plan to up-pot them in a month or two.

Thanks for recommendations!

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