The Tropical Fruit Forum

Couple of Sweethearts almost ready



Sweethearts

I have a question for you guys: how long does it take for Sweetheart to set fruit in SoCal? I planted mine in 2018, the tree is not enormous, but my Brewster was setting fruit with half its size. It produces a lot of flowers every year, but all the small fruitless fall almost immediately. Have any of you observed the same thing in this cv? It's a particularly non-precocious tree?

Jose

I haven't read through this whole thread (but, will go back and read it from the start) but saw a Imam Pasand mention.  I've been growing and eating this fruit for 20 years.   At first I didn't like it. But, as the years progressed I've learned to love it.  It ain't pretty but it has a very complex flavor. Since coconut was mentioned while eating I was thinking coconut and it did have a hint of that flavor.  It's complex.  Not always a good fruit if not ripened correctly.  Strange fruit for sure. I would not recommend it unless looking for a strange one off and a conversation piece.  It is a delicious fruit though, very complex.  Lemony-coconut and a little off putting terpentine flavor.  The tree produces every year for me and abundantly.   

One variety I have that is def coconut is the Gary variety. Very small and round fruit, good producer, and very coconuty flavor.   I've had that for 20 years as well.  Acquired a long time ago thru a Merritt Island vendor (Ace hardware) and Gary Zill.

Photo is the Imam Pasand from 10 minutes ago.   

Oddball Zill Mango Tasting Notes
I went down to Tropical Acres to pick up an order and rummaged through the bins. I was shocked to see many mango types I had never even heard of, so naturally I bought them all and gorged myself to the point of mango bloat. It's a long drive, I told myself to justify the overbuying. Keep in mind their mangoes are pretty much ready to eat when you buy them. A few were even overripe, but thankfully none of these rare ones.

Most of these oddballs are Zill project mangoes that time has forgotten or stuff that just hasn't hit the bigtime yet in a Fruitful Trees production. Eating these mangoes is like listening to Rolling Stones outtakes and B-sides. There are some golden moments but most of it didn't make the final cut for good reason.



Candy Corn
What's next, the Peeps Mango? Candy Corn is America's most hated Halloween candy. Would you believe this mango does taste a bit like Candy Corn and also looks like Candy Corn? The fruit is on the small end of medium with a flattened shape like an arrowhead or a kernel of corn. Excellent texture with a bit of structure but no fiber. Strong intense candy sweetness, one of the sweetest mangoes I have eaten. No acid and very little mango flavor. It doesn't really taste like a tropical fruit, more like mass produced candy. Cotton Candy is the most similar mango I can identify, but Candy Corn conveys the sweetness more pleasantly and offers at least hints of flavor. As a novelty, it's worth trying once or twice.

Zill M-10
This small mango has very deep orange colored flesh with a smooth and fiberless texture. I detect a slight effervescence and a stronger quality of creamy dairy. The main flavor of candied Valencia orange offers a very slight citrus tang. I've never tasted Zill 40-26, but I know some people call that one “Creamsicle”.  Well, this M-10 reminds me of an Orange Creamsicle pop. It has the creamy dairy, the candy sweetness and some citrus to complete that impression. At least based on flavor, the M-10 could have some wider appeal.

Zill M-17
The medium size fruit shows some black spot and orange flesh. Drawbacks include a more fibrous texture than the others and inconsistent quality and flavor throughout the fruit. Some bites hit while others flop. The real action is near the skin where I detected a very slight effervescence and some mild surprises. M-17 bears some resemblance to Orange Sherbet but toned way down. It has a strong sweetness level with reasonable balance. Tasting M-17 revealed a pleasant enough mango, but hardly an essential experience by any means.

Zill 36-43
The 36-43 is an oddly shaped and tiny little mango. The creamy texture and juicy flesh did not hold up well to cutting, breaking down easily with juice everywhere. The flavor intensity checked in well below the other selections; this mango tastes watered down, like diluted orange juice. On the other hand, the sweetness level is about average for a mango. This is either a very subpar example of 36-43 or this is a very pedestrian variety that will remain undiscovered. I might try Zill 36-43 one more time just to be fair but based on this audition, it's not worth your time.

Gouveia
I was not expecting this. Gouveia delivered the highest flavor intensity of all these mangoes by a considerable distance. I felt my taste buds activate instantly with super sweetness and a strong citric acid type finish. Gouveia has the kind of intensity and sweetness you get from a canned tropical juice blend. I'm thinking of flavor scientists in a lab testing ratios of tangerine and sweet grapefruit and Meyer Lemon with guava and papaya until you can't distinguish them individually, then amping up the sugar and sodium until children get addicted. This mango has a flavor I can't ignore, and I'm struggling to forget it and carry on. Gouveia moves the needle for sure, but it's saddled with a challenging to pronounce French name, at least for the moment. Y'all gotta try one of these. It's a no doubt homerun sailing into the upper deck.

Edgar
I love Johnny Winter's music, and I like Edgar Winter's music. Sadly, this mango is not named after that Edgar. This Edgar is just another medium size classic flavor mango. The unique selling points are subtle: the classic mango taste comes with a splash of lemon, and the texture is astoundingly superior. Edgar could well be the smoothest feeling mango I have tried, while each bite still holds together without turning to mush. I detect an average sweetness level, with a flavor intensity slightly below par.
Edgar is decent but unspectacular. You can live without it.

I received a few Edgars from TA in my box of goodies.  They were picked early and were very firm when I received them so they didn't damage during shipment and I ripened in our warehouse that we keep around 78F sitting on an empty shelf.  If you make homemade mango salsa (and that is so simple and easy to make and tastes amazing) this is THE mango to use because of the firmness of the flesh.  Wife kept asking me what I did different (normally use store bought or the ones from our tree) and that was it.

Since Kent likes to grow vertically you may have a good idea to try and let the bottom of the tree become varieties that are more horizontal in growth ending up with a pyramid shape.

Well, that would be a happy accident.

Any Adavo resellers should include the warning for increased risk of the plants carrying the Citrus Tristeza Virus.