Hunt for the best Surinam Cherry

[Epicatt2]

It's often possible to salvage some resinous-tasting pitangas (Eugenia uniflora).  The trick is to let them get full ripe so that if you just touch them they fall off the bush right into your hand, and then collect them in a bowl and leave them, covered, in the 'fridge overnight.  This has the effect of helping to dissapate the resinousness aspect of the fruit.

This will work on some but not all pitangas (Eugenia uniflora), depending, of course, upon how strong the resinousness in a particular cultivar may be.  This is primarily useful for the red-fruited ones. It can be less so for the dark/black-fruited ones which can tend to be less (or not) resinous tasting than the red-fruited ones.

Might be worth a try for our TFF members to see whether their red-fruited variety loses the resinous taste by allowing them to sit in the 'fridge overnight.

[Now this has me wondering whether giving them an overnighting in the 'fridge would work with pitangatubas (Eugenia selloi) which have fairly tart fruit but which might sweeten up slightly after chilling them.]

OK — HTH

Paul M.
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[FMfruitforest]

I have tasted that increased irrigation during ripening reduces resinous flavor also.

[Satya]

I personally can't stand them and I'd have rather eaten a few puke flavored papaya. That was BEFORE my neighbor grabbed a few deep black samples from his yard and asked me to try them. I gotta say at least from HIS bush, I'd rather eat his Surinam cherry than a puke  flavored papaya :-)

It's not saying much but the possibility of a dessert Surinam is still a dim possibility.

Gary, my wife discovered a papaya that doesn't taste pukey; like you, she doesn't appreciate strong papaya flavor, so she kept propagating this one that has less sweetness but definitive floral fragrance, fresh "clean" taste, almost like a honeydew. I like very sweet (don't mind musky) papayas and don't care for "her" variety but she really loves it. Next time we see each other I can share seeds if you want.

[fliptop]

This seedling Zill's Dark fruited for the first time a couple months ago and is now loaded with flowers. Fruit were dark and in line with the parent, but what excites me most is that this seedling stands at only 3 1/2' tall.