Author Topic: Best Tasting Loquats For 2022 Season  (Read 7481 times)

sc4001992

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Best Tasting Loquats For 2022 Season
« on: April 05, 2022, 12:46:10 AM »
Does anyone have suggestions for the best tasting loquats they have eaten in 2022..

It would be good to hear from loquat growers which loquat variety they grow that was their best tasting for 2022 season. It will be another few months before all the fruits are ripe for evaluation so as you eat the fruits, post photos of your best tasting ones and update as other varieties ripen on your trees.

Please include the following information when you post so it will make it easy for readers to get the details below:

1. Mention your location (country, state) so others who live in similar areas would know that your favorite tasting loquat grows well in that specific location.

2. If you can take a few photos to post of your best tasting fruit as they ripen, so you can continue to update your best tasting (if they do not ripen at the same time) until all your varieties are ripe and done for this season.

3. Describe why you think it tastes so great, it would be good information for others that may not have eaten that variety. Some people like the very sweet fruits while others like the sweet with some tartness (personal preference of course).

« Last Edit: April 09, 2022, 11:13:53 AM by sc4001992 »

LinT

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Re: Best Tasting Loquats For 2022 Season
« Reply #1 on: April 05, 2022, 09:10:54 PM »
Hi, I'm searching for a loquat tree that produces very large but sweet fruit. Is Big Jim yellow a good candidate? I live in Florida Panhandle, Zone 9a. :oquat grows very fast here. but tends to be short lived because of fungus problem due to coastal humid wet weather.

Lin Tung

sc4001992

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Re: Best Tasting Loquats For 2022 Season
« Reply #2 on: April 08, 2022, 06:56:24 AM »
Now that most of my loquats on my multi-graft tree (74 varieties on one tree) is getting ripe, I will start picking the fruits and takes some photos. I will not rate them since everyone seems to have their favorite tasting loquats. Instead, what I will do is, as I pick a handfull of different varieties, I will compare the ones in the group and rank them in groups. I will try to overlap the varieties I compare so you should be able to determine which ones I liked the best for my taste..

Today I have picked the following:
-Peluche, not ripe yet, actually fell off when I was taking photos on the tree.
-Argelino
-Big Jim (orange flesh), my standard reference of a top tier loquat fruit (my tree is over 30yrs old)
-Christmas
-Imperiale
-Shorepointe

1.My location is Southern Calif, Fullerton/Placentia, zone 10b
2. Photos below showing some fruits on my tree, others after being picked and taste test performed.
3. I grouped these fruits into group1 (Imperiale, Big Jim, Christmas, Peluche) and group2 (Argelino, Big Jim, Christmas, Shorepointe)

Group 1: Result
    So far, the best in group1 is Imperiale. Taste is very sweet, no acid/tartness at all.
    I like Big Jim but the Imperiale is sweeter so it wins in this group comparision.

Addtional Comments:
1) Christmas - taste mildly sweet, more watery than the Big Jim.
2) Imperiale has an unique flavor, not just very sweet. Similar to KT8_Sheri_Lynn


Group 2: Result
    Big Jim and Shorepointe was a tie, both tasted excellent, very sweet, no acid/tartness.
    I will need to eat more of these fruits and try to give a description of their differences.

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« Last Edit: April 09, 2022, 11:14:08 AM by sc4001992 »

sc4001992

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Re: Best Tasting Loquats For 2022 Season
« Reply #3 on: April 08, 2022, 07:06:12 AM »
Lin, you should wait until more people posts their favorite tasting/best one for the 2022 season.
Once more data is posted from people who grow loquats in various parts of the country, then you should be able to look up your location and determine if the particular variety is something you would like to grow.

The intent of my post here is to ask anyone who is growing loquats to give their feedback on their best tasting loquat for 2022 season..
« Last Edit: April 09, 2022, 05:49:25 AM by sc4001992 »

sc4001992

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Re: Best Tasting Loquats For 2022 Season
« Reply #4 on: April 09, 2022, 05:51:13 AM »
Updated with more loquat photos above for Argelino and Imperiale.

JCorte

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Re: Best Tasting Loquats For 2022 Season
« Reply #5 on: April 09, 2022, 09:39:03 AM »
Kaz,

Does the Imperiale usually have a single seed?  If you account for how many seeds the Big Jim gets, I wonder if it’s flesh to seed ratio still makes it one of the biggest.  Were all those seeds in your picture for Peluche from one fruit?  I thought they were touted as having biggest fruits with less seed.  When I grow out my seedlings, small, less seeds is something I would like to select for.

Janet

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Re: Best Tasting Loquats For 2022 Season
« Reply #6 on: April 17, 2022, 10:31:37 PM »
Just discovered a seedling loquat tree growing in LA with high percentage of single seed fruits. Extra large fruits do get up to four seeds though. Fruits are just starting to sweeten up. Very juicy and meaty .

Here's a pic of an average size fruit  with single seed






sc4001992

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Re: Best Tasting Loquats For 2022 Season
« Reply #7 on: April 17, 2022, 11:55:29 PM »
To reply on the Peluche seeds, I don't know how many the average fruit has. The one I show in my taste test had the amount of seeds I showed in the photo.

Max, nice new white flesh seedling loquat you found. It should get sweeter when it ripens more. I just noticed today that I have 3 new seedling trees with ripe fruits and they are very good. All three of my new seedling loquats have the white flesh, I will need to assign a number to them and give them a name since they are keepers for me.


fruit4me

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Re: Best Tasting Loquats For 2022 Season
« Reply #8 on: April 18, 2022, 01:02:48 AM »
Here's some more fruits , it's not fully ripe yet. It will get more orange yellow.





Satya

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Re: Best Tasting Loquats For 2022 Season
« Reply #9 on: April 18, 2022, 10:30:44 PM »
Kaz, have you ever tried Champagne from Zill? My wife refuses to eat any other loquats, lol, saying it's the best tasting one ever (she hasn't tasted many, haha), but from descriptions it's very different from all the other varieties...
The taste is bubbly, like tonic water, or sweet lemonade/kombucha, not fermented though but extremely fresh tasting? I wonder how it is even possible for a fruit? So the name pretty much describes it. It's more acidic than the varieties you describe but this acidity is very well balanced by the "bubbliness" and citrusy & candy notes. It's fruited for me twice and every time reliably the same awesome taste, but smallish size.

sc4001992

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Re: Best Tasting Loquats For 2022 Season
« Reply #10 on: April 18, 2022, 10:39:59 PM »
Satya,

Yes, I have Champane, a small 5 gallon tree which fruited, and many grafted on my multi-grafted tree. The first fruits on the 5 gallon tree was not that impressive so I did not taste the good things you mention here, maybe next season. I only tasted 3-4 fruits from the tree.

I liked the Christmas fruits much better, it has larger fruits and tastes very good.

Next season I will need to look for the flavor and bubbly taste you mentioned. Maybe it tastes good in Florida but not as good here in Calif. It will be interesting to hear from others here that grow Champagne and hear how they describe the taste of their fruits.



Satya

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Re: Best Tasting Loquats For 2022 Season
« Reply #11 on: April 18, 2022, 10:45:45 PM »
Maybe it tastes good in Florida but not as good here in Calif. It will be interesting to hear from others here that grow Champagne and hear how they describe the taste of their fruits.
quite possible, my Big Jim first fruits weren't good taste-wise at all. Our soils are very different so they must be picking up different nutrients for the different tastes. If you don't get the bubbliness in yours next season, I will ship you some fruit :) i think it's very much worth trying.

sc4001992

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Re: Best Tasting Loquats For 2022 Season
« Reply #12 on: April 18, 2022, 10:46:22 PM »
I have more photos and taste test results from my loquat tree that I will be posting soon.

I purchased a Vee Gee Scientific BX-1 Handheld Refractometer so now I can take some Brix reading on the varieties I have. This refractometer scale goes from 0-32% so it should work fine for loquats. I made some measurements of 20+ varieties so I will make a table and post the results.

sc4001992

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Re: Best Tasting Loquats For 2022 Season
« Reply #13 on: April 18, 2022, 10:49:51 PM »
Satya, ok, sounds good and I will send you my best tasting Big Jim fruits next season.

The Big Jim (orange flesh) tree has two very distinct type of fruits on my tree that I have noticed. Some of the big fruits may look good but they are egg shaped (eliptical), large and sweet with some acidic taste. The ones that are the best tasting are the ones that are round and do not get as large as the others. These round shaped fruits get dark orange skin and has smaller seeds in them, tastes great.

Satya

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Re: Best Tasting Loquats For 2022 Season
« Reply #14 on: April 18, 2022, 10:54:15 PM »
Satya, ok, sounds good and I will send you my best tasting Big Jim fruits next season.
👌🏻
The Big Jim (orange flesh) tree has two very distinct type of fruits on my tree that I have noticed. Some of the big fruits may look good but they are egg shaped (eliptical), large and sweet with some acidic taste. The ones that are the best tasting are the ones that are round and do not get as large as the others. These round shaped fruits get dark orange skin and has smaller seeds in them, tastes great.
interesting, mine wasn't acidic but the taste was just nothing to write home about. Don't know how to describe it better  :o

joe_OC

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Re: Best Tasting Loquats For 2022 Season
« Reply #15 on: April 20, 2022, 12:28:17 AM »
I was hoping this topic would be coming up.  I really enjoy loquats and have a couple of Big Jim seedlings.  I wanted to know which varieties I should be grafting on them this year.

sc4001992

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Re: Best Tasting Loquats For 2022 Season
« Reply #16 on: April 20, 2022, 01:41:13 AM »
Joe,

Check out my special loquat scionwood deal. You need to place your order before I run out.
Both the Vista White and KT1-Kosmic have white flesh, KT1 is more yellow flesh, and tastes very good. I'm having a special deal now so you can get 5 cuttings for $5 plus shipping.

Kaz

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Re: Best Tasting Loquats For 2022 Season
« Reply #17 on: April 20, 2022, 11:56:55 PM »
Kaz - Is this a good time to graft?  I thought you should not graft when trees are pushing?

sc4001992

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Re: Best Tasting Loquats For 2022 Season
« Reply #18 on: April 21, 2022, 12:02:16 AM »
Joe, I graft my loquats any time I get new scions to add to my collection. Most of these fruit trees are best to graft in spring but loquats are pretty easy to graft and will do fine most of the months (Jan-Oct).

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Re: Best Tasting Loquats For 2022 Season
« Reply #19 on: April 23, 2022, 02:29:55 AM »
Kaz - Is this a good time to graft?  I thought you should not graft when trees are pushing?

Only time you should not graft loquats is when they're holding active flowers or if the average temperature is under 5 C (41 F), or above 40 C (104 F) below 50% humidity / 37 C (98~ F) above 50% humidity. However, in hot temps, protection may be added to prevail successfully. If there are active flowers, refrigerate your cuttings until the fruit sets.

All other times throughout the year, grafting is acceptable.

The best time during the year to graft is immediately following fruit drop.

snowjunky

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Re: Best Tasting Loquats For 2022 Season
« Reply #20 on: April 29, 2022, 01:28:33 AM »
Best time to graft loquat in Phoenix is anytime after Halloween, but before Valentine's Day.  New growth in April will not survive for long even in the shade.
« Last Edit: April 29, 2022, 02:19:37 AM by snowjunky »

snowjunky

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Re: Best Tasting Loquats For 2022 Season
« Reply #21 on: April 29, 2022, 01:47:14 AM »
Here's my first harvest of Kanko.  Large size, thick meaty flesh and very good flavor. 
The tree is productive and can handle the Phoenix summers like Big Jim and Argelino, not get fried and die like Champagne and Christmas.





The guava is from a seedling tree I got from Exotica Nursery.  It produces fruit two or three times a year. 
The guavas are very sweet and flavorful with some acidity when they are still hard and crunchy like an apple. 
They are even sweeter when they ripen and get soft.  The guavas vary in size and shape from egg size to orange size and round, oval and pear shapes. 
The tree is very vigorous and has big leaves.  It is also a bit more cold hardy than my other guavas trees.
« Last Edit: May 30, 2022, 09:12:49 PM by snowjunky »

sc4001992

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Re: Best Tasting Loquats For 2022 Season
« Reply #22 on: April 29, 2022, 06:53:06 AM »
Steve, I'm impressed with your Kanko loquat fruits, wow, that's a lot of fruits in one bundle!

The only loquats I have with that many one one branch/cluster is the China White, excellent white flesh loquat. Now it is one of my favorites besides my seedling tree and another one called Big Steve (from O.C. crfg).

snowjunky

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Re: Best Tasting Loquats For 2022 Season
« Reply #23 on: April 29, 2022, 07:43:09 AM »
What? Big Steve doesn't sound right.  Is it better than Big Jim?
How's China white compared to Vista White in taste and size?

sc4001992

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Re: Best Tasting Loquats For 2022 Season
« Reply #24 on: April 29, 2022, 11:27:30 AM »
Steve, yes Big Steve is from a person who grew a seedling in southern calif, it might be new Huntington Beach (maybe?). I bought this small plant at our Greenscene at CSUF where the CRFGs have a both and sell fruit trees. It tastes better than Big Jims White (white flesh version from Jim N.). Big Steve is in the top 5 on my taste test, I will be posting more photos later, been busy last week with issues with water heater replacement.

China White is one of the top 3 from all of the 43 varieties I have tested this season. I will post more photos and results later when I get time. Also started documenting the Brix reading for the better tasting loquats. At the end of this post, or when the loquats are all finished, I will post my chart with all the Brix reading. Since my China White grafted branches are only 2 years old, the fruit size may not be representative of the variety yet, but I can tell you the tastes is excellent and that will not get worse over time. Vista White fruits on my tree is consistently a medium to large fruits (63 grams) but I don't know why others have said their Vista White fruits are small. I may have a bud mutation so maybe I should keep it around a little longer. As I cut my tree down, I will isolate the branches with the larger fruits.