The Tropical Fruit Forum

My friend Ken has fresh Organic Dragonfruit for sale. Please see his flyer for additional details.

I came upon this post that caught my attention today. Is it real? They say it’s a Chinese Mangosteen. It has high Brix according to the picture.

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid0a41Fyt1qvxfuBHqdzDGeyfC3UrEY4wC3URukf6CALgS2weBGi6a88NZ2HYbsVxyWl&id=100001555533978&mibextid=wwXIfr

It was an absolutely gorgeous day yesterday in Orange County for the return of our annual SoCal Mango Tasting event! Our last big mango tasting event occurred in 2019, right before Covid hit. This tasting had mangos from only a couple small orchards but we hope to get more growers involved as we get back into the swing of things.


These fruit gatherings bring together a bunch of individuals from all walks of life, all of whom share the love of fruit. I frequently meet new friends that grow a new crop or variety of fruit that I have never tasted before. Although this was a Mango tasting, these events usually include many other types of tropical, subtropical, and temperate fruit as well.










As always, it’s very difficult to pick a bunch of mangos 1-2 weeks prior to a big event and have them all ripen properly on the targeted day of the event. Many of these mangos were not properly ripened because we had to pick them too early or we miss timed the picking and they were either under ripe or were over ripened and had to be refrigerated.

I only took a few pictures yesterday because the event was fast paced and I was busy taking Brix readings. We had a total of 32 different Mango varieties yesterday but some of the varieties were over/under ripe and were not cut or was cut and tossed into the trash because they were not edible.

In all honesty, this event had only about 9 varieties out of the 32 that were in edible condition. Of those 9 varieties, about 6 were in ok condition and only 3-4 varieties were in good to great condition. It was still a great time for everyone as we also had some top tier Figs, Pomegranates, Persimmons, Sapodillas, Dragonfruit and Cherimoyas.

For this event, everyone picked their top 3 varieties based on taste. Coming in at #3 was LaHabra Sorbete, a seedling selection from Frank that came from either PPK, Orange Sherbet or Lemon Zest, I can’t remember which. This mango tasted a lot like Orange Sherbet and the fruit was slightly over ripe and had Brix readings of 22.7 and 23.9. This fruit had a smooth texture, a hint of Orange flavor and good sweetness. This fruit would have been excellent if we sampled it a day or two earlier.

Coming in at second place was Orange Sherbet. The crowd really seemed to like the orange flavored mangos and I heard several guests mention that they could really taste the Orange flavor in this mango. This was not a blind tasting however and each mango had a variety tag on it. Sometimes knowing the name of the variety could subconsciously suggest flavors which a person may not otherwise perceive.

The Orange Sherbet had a Brix reading of 20.1 and 23.3. The fruit had a smooth texture and had hints of Orange and also had excellent sugar balance.

Coming in at #1 was Sweet Tart. The perennial favorite takes top honors once again! This was definitely the crowd favorite and there were lots of “oohs and ahhs” as the crowd bit down on their slice of this IndoChinese flavored mango. This mango had the perfect sugar acid balance with deep, rich, full bodied flavor that was accentuated by the IndoChinese spice that was more concentrated near the skin.

This fruit had a Brix reading of 28.1% Brix and it was very sweet but the acid balance  and IndoChinese spice made the fruit perfectly balanced without being cloyingly sweet. Sweet Tart has a dense flesh that is deep orange in color when properly grown and harvested at the correct stage of ripeness.

Total heat units and the DLI ( Daily Light Integral) definitely play a role in ripening Mangos and likely have an impact on the color of the flesh so growers living in colder climates may or may not attain the deep orange color when one or both are lacking.

There is a reason Sweet Tart has been in the top 3 for about the last 10 years. Out of those 10 years, Sweet Tart has taken the #1 spot more frequently than any other Mango. Caveat is that Lemon Zest is such a bad producer, for those that don’t properly spray, that it is frequently not part of our Mango tastings.

Sweet Tart is one of my number one recommendations when people ask me which variety they should plant. It is susceptible to Powdery Mildew on both new growth and the blooms but it will still hold fruit despite the PM. ST is also a vigorous grower which is a huge bonus for people trying to grow Mangos in SoCal where our actual (vegetative) growth period lasts only several months out of the year.

On top of that, ST is Polyembryonic and I highly recommend growing this variety from seed. My personal experience and experiences from members that reported back to me are that the seedling fruit tastes similar if not the same as the real Sweet Tart.

As many people know, I recommend planting seedlings if you are attempting to grow Mangos in SoCal. See this thread below for the reason why.

https://tropicalfruitforum.com/index.php?topic=23124.0

Here are links to previous years SoCal Mango Tastings:

2019

https://tropicalfruitforum.com/index.php?topic=33777.msg370136#msg370136
 
2017

https://tropicalfruitforum.com/index.php?topic=25557.0

2016

https://tropicalfruitforum.com/index.php?topic=21313.0
2015

https://tropicalfruitforum.com/index.php?topic=17181.0

Post image is down for maintenance so I’ll edit to add pictures when it’s back up.

So I was shopping at 99 Ranch market and found these “ Litchi King” Lychees and they are friggin huge. The larger ones are about 75g and are larger than a chicken egg. Every single fruit is extremely large. These Lychees are from China and they have a sweet, slight subacid flavor. The peel is thick and has a tannin taste if you try to bite through it. There is little to no Lychee/Rose flavor and the flesh has a slight taste that I don’t like so much. I rate this Lychee a C+. Oh yeah, the seed is pretty large but there is still a lot of flesh.







Simon

I just picked up a box of Kesar Mangos from Miramar Cash and Carry in San Diego. The price has gone up to $45 for a box of 10 mangos. I don’t know the quality yet because the fruit are not ripe. Please feel free to post updates about varieties available at the local Indian Supermarkets and or taste reviews.





Simon

My family hiking around the canyons today we found this thing on the ground. It looks sort of pebbly, kinda like a small Jackfruit. It is the size of an apple and is relatively light in weight. There were several of these things laying on the ground and some of them were about the size of a large cherimoya.

I looked up to see if any of the nearby trees had this fruit like thing but couldn’t find any trees holding this fruit. I also found a fruit that was cracked open. Anybody know what this is?

It smells somewhat fruity with a bit of that sandalwood smell. Thanks in advance!





Simon

Hello everyone,

I am deeply saddened to inform you that Rudy Haluza has passed away at 92 years of age from Cancer. Rudy will always be remembered for his introduction of “El Bumpo”, Rudy #20” and many other seedling introductions.

Rudy had a passion for the delicious tropical and subtropical fruits that can be grown in SoCal and his seedling selections are one of the reasons why I began planting seedlings along with grafted trees. With grafted trees, you know what you’re getting but with seedlings, you can push the envelope and come up with a selection that will wow the world like Rudy did with El Bumpo.

<br /><br />
Rudy is the one sitting up in the middle in the front row.

My condolences goes out to the Haluza family. I’m sure a huge void will be left in his family but Rudy will always be remembered in the lives of all those he touched around him.

Simon

I’m looking for Frankia Bacteria/Actinomycetes for my Yangmei plants. Please let me know if you have any for sale. Thanks

Simon

Hello everyone, I have lots of neighbors and friends that ask me for mango seeds to grow out so I’m hoping that anyone with spare seeds for the following varieties can please mail me some seeds. I’m looking for Sweet Tart, Orange Sherbet, NDM, CAC, Cotton Candy, E4 and any other good tasting polyembryonic varieties. I’d gladly pay for each seed, postage and your time. I will be giving these seeds away. Thanks in advance!

Simon

I was never a really big fig fan but that was because I never had a really good fig. After tasting a perfectly ripened Violet de Bordeaux and Black Madeira fig from my friends tree, I was hooked. All those years prior, I only knew about the Black Mission and Brown Turkey from the supermarkets and they’re good figs but there are significantly better figs out there.

The difference between the common and commercially available Brown Turkey vs a premium Black Madeira is like comparing a Tommy Atkins Mango VS a Lemon Zest. The premium figs taste like a dense, sticky sweet strawberry jam! Here’s a picture of a partially dried Craven’s Craving fig I recently harvested




There are many different flavor profiles when it comes to figs. There are Honey flavored figs, Berry flavored figs, melon flavored figs, figgy flavored(fig Newton), and many different combinations in between.

Figs are an excellent fruit to grow and eat. One of the best attributes about figs is their quick return on investment. What I mean is that with the proper growing conditions, a rooted cutting or a grafted tree can easily give you wonderful tasting fruit within its first season.

Anyways, I recently got bit by the fig bug and joined some fig forums and Facebook groups and a couple of my friends decided to turn their passion for figs into a business.

This first website was established by David Burke. He is known as the fig hunter and he has a passion for discovering new fig varieties. He scours the countryside in search of seedling fig trees that produce top quality fruit. For those that aren’t aware, figs that are pollinated with male fig pollen via the fig wasp creates a bigger, sweeter and richer tasting fruit. More importantly, female figs pollinated by male fig pollen via the fig wasps creates viable seedlings that can become the next incredible tasting fig.

David has done all the footwork discovering many new seedling fig varieties and he has made his discoveries available to the public as cuttings. I forgot to mention that David also sells fresh eggs, fig jams, soaps and other great products at his family farm website!

https://www.burkefarms.shop

https://www.thefighunter.shop/

This next website was founded by Brian Melton. Brian is very well known in the fig community and also has a passion for figs. Brian has a huge collection of figs that he has acquired through friends around the world. He has figs from France, Italy, Spain and pretty much every country that can grow figs. Brian has an orchard where he grows only the top tier varieties. His orchard pumps out truck loads of the most premium figs and he has turned the figs into various fig jams for sale.

Brian’s website will be selling the various fig jams, seasonings, fig cuttings, fig trees and various other products. For those of you that have not tried Fig Jam, it is absolutely amazing! I’m a meat lover and when my wife told me she made me a vegetarian sandwich, I was really not looking forward to it. What she made me was a Brie, green apple and fig jam sandwich. It took me just one bite and I’m hooked for life.

Check out this recipe that is almost identical to my wife’s recipe

https://honestandtasty.com/brie-grilled-cheese/

If you trust me and my tropical/subtropical fruit reviews, trust me on this sandwich, it will blow your mind. Using Brian’s specialty fig jam will take this sandwich to the next level.

Brian’s website won’t go live until today at 5pm Pacific time so if you log in now, the products won’t be available until later tonight. Here’s a link to Brian’s website

https://calfig.com/

Here’s what Brian had to say about his new business:

Monday, December 7th at 5pm Pacific time we will officially launch our CalFig business website. We will be introducing our new line of gourmet fig products along with fig cuttings, fig trees and Japanese Maples. We hope our fig friends and family will support our business and our goal to introduce premium fig products into the market place. This is the first step, so please be patient with us as we start this journey.
I have many people to thank, but without Lance Knoechel this website would have never been built. His patience and professionalism has been crucial in the website building process. I would highly recommend him to anyone.
One last thing, the fig cuttings are from my Private Fig Collection. Each order will be labeled in the field and bagged personally by me. Cuttings will be good quality from in ground trees. Some varieties will be thin and some will be thick. But ALL will be an acceptable rooting size. Expect 1-4 weeks to receive your cuttings. I will add a suprise to the first 10 orders placed!
The website is CalFig.com

Brian and David have both helped me along my fig path and they didn’t ask me to plug them here but they are both good people with a passion for figs so I wanted everyone to know about there new business and hopefully support them. Please share this with your friends and family and help support the small businesses! Thanks in advance!

Simon

So my quest to find and grow the large fruiting giant H. Megalanthus(used to be S. Megalanthus) began about 11 years ago on my last trip to Hong Kong. There is a high end supermarket that sold melons for hundreds of dollars, strawberries for about $50 and a bunch of imported fruit from Australia and elsewhere.

Among the fruit were the largest Megalanthus fruit I have ever seen. I was growing the Pine island Nursery variety of Megalanthus at the time and the fruit were very good and sweet with a nice seed crunch but the fruit were tiny.

The fruit were very similar in size to Sugar dragon(S8) and some were even smaller. This giant Megalanthus I discovered in Hong Kong blew my mind and I posted pictures in the fruit forum but some people were still skeptical that a giant version of the Megalanthus existed.

http://tropicalfruitforum.com/index.php?topic=8090.0

Here’s the thread where I was seriously questioned about there being a real giant selection of S/H Megalanthus

http://tropicalfruitforum.com/index.php?topic=26177.0

When I returned home to San Diego, I began my search for seeds and cuttings for the giant Megalanthus. In my quest, I discovered a research article that described how farmers in Ecuador and Peru had selected large fruiting versions of the Megalanthus.

In the article, it described several selections. Some of the selections had more fins, some had less fins. Some fruit were more elongated and others were very round. There was even a selection that had fewer spines.

I asked around and discovered that my friend Leo Manuel had acquired some seeds of a supposedly giant fruiting Megalanthus from another friend. Leo gave me those seeds and I grew those out.

Not knowing if I had the true giant, I continued my search and was able to get my hands on seeds of giant fruiting varieties from Ecuador and Peru. The people that sent me the seeds had pictures of the giant fruit the seeds came from so I knew they were the real deal.
Keep in mind that back about 11 years ago, the giant Megalanthus that we now know as Palora or giant Palora was not available in the United States like they are now. Nowadays, you can go to just about any Asian supermarket and find the giant Megalanthus.

Anyways, to make a long story longer, I planted all these seeds from Leo Manuel, Ecuador and Peru. The seeds sprouted easily but the seedlings grew at a snails pace. With my neglect, they only grew a few inches the first year.

I then began researching on how to graft Dragonfruit and found an article that described how some farmers were grafting Megalanthus onto Undatus in order to get more vigorous plants.

For those that aren’t aware, Megalanthus is considered to be a slower grower.

Around that time, I lost interest in the giant Megalanthus because my brain got distracted with double rootstock technology, especially in regard to how it could benefit Mangos.
http://tropicalfruitforum.com/index.php?topic=16549.0

I gave most of my seedlings away and around this time, I met one of my best friends, Brad(Spaugh).

We were both into growing various tropical fruits and he invited me over to his, then, small orchard. He had a few avocado trees and a few citrus and two guavas and  maybe a few other fruit trees.

Brad had read some of my posts on the Tropicalfruit forum and when I stopped over to his property the first time, I brought him some Dragonfruit and Cherimoya fruit.

Brad immediately got hooked so I shared my cuttings with him and he also started his own quest to acquire additional Dragonfruit varieties.

I gave Brad one of each of my giant Megalanthus seedlings and Brad also acquired cuttings of supposed giant Paloras from other friends.

About three years ago, we found some YouTube videos regarding how to graft Dragonfruit. I’m sure some of those videos were from Richard(Thanks Richard). At this time, the giant Palora fruit started popping up all around SoCal. We noticed that some of the fruit still had little nubs of the Dragonfruit vine so we decided to try our hand at grafting them.  Aside from the seedlings, we were also able to graft the commercially available giant Palora onto Undatus rootstock.

Fast forward to the present and this year is the first year our giant produced flowers and fruit. The fruit is not fully ripe yet, they’re still green, but they already reached the size of the commercially available giant Megalanthus from the supermarkets so we definitely have a verified giant Megalanthus.

It’s been a long road but I’m Glad we are finally to grow out a few of these giants. I’ll update everyone once these fruit turn yellow and fully ripen.

Here is a current picture of the fruit taken today. All this would not have been possible without Brad’s gardening skills and his love of Dragonfruit.











Simon

We are getting into the peak of the Southern California mango season and there won’t be any big mango tastings this year because of COVID but Leo Manuel and another good friend with a large orchard dropped off a bunch of mangos for me to sample.

This first picture are mangos with a bit of spice or Indian resin flavor profile. Some of these mangos may not have been picked at peak maturity but my friend lives pretty far away and hopefully they will ripen sufficiently.



These next few pictures are various mangos from Leo Manuel.









Simon