Hi Mike,
Hope you are doing well. I haven't heard any taste reports for lucida. I have a verbacifolia that has been bearing for a couple of years or so. I think Helton described it as delicious. Typically, the fruit goes from hard & green to ... gone (I've never seen a bird in the bush but I suspect it must be birds). I've been able to try some with just a hint of yellow but they have still been hard & unpleasant (astringent if I recall correctly).
I've gotten nance seeds a couple of times and never got any germination. I got the verbacifolia seeds years ago from Brazil and only one of those germinated so I don't know if they are typically tough to germinate but they have been for me (although I suspect they germinate much better after passing through a bird's GI tract).
John