Temperate Fruit & Orchards > Temperate Fruit Discussion
Lardizabalaceae
KarenRei:
--- Quote from: polux on February 06, 2018, 07:02:08 PM ---Another interesting member with edible and curious fruits may be Decaisnea fargesii (blue sausage fruit). It is hardy down to -15 °C and fruit have sweet jelly pulp. It is not well known here as the Akebia is, but looks very interesting....
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Yeah, I did my research on that one just last night. :) While Useful Tropical Plants quotes two contradictory descriptions of the flavour, one stating that it's insipid, all of the individual taste reviews I found say (after the person gets over the appearance!) that it's pretty good, with a "sweet watermelon" flavour.
Just as a note, it dies back to the ground each year in USDA zone <= 6, but then regrows from its roots.
BTW, if you get out a chance, check out Akebia's nutritional profile (I assume that Decaisnea's is similar). Very healthy, but unusual! For example, the main acid is not citric, malic, succinic, tartaric, oxalic, quinic, etc like in most fruits, but rather lactic! There's a couple other things unusual in its profile, but I can't recall them off the top of my head. It's a bit fattier than most fruits, at 1,5% (although not as much as durian, and certainly nothing like an avocado), and it has an unusually high ash (aka, mineral) content (over 6%). Vitamin C per gram ranges from 1,5x to 14x that of oranges. Apart from all the sugar, it's health food! ;)
polux:
I will definitely try Decaisnea this year, it seems to be very interesting for my growing zone. Problem is only with good seed source. I try several times to germinate them (stratified, without stratification) no one of big amount germinate :( Seed were probably very old or not properly stored.
Interesting info about Akebia Karen :) Seems that many of Lardizabaceae is not only unusuall but also healthy...
KarenRei:
--- Quote from: polux on February 09, 2018, 02:27:15 PM ---I will definitely try Decaisnea this year, it seems to be very interesting for my growing zone. Problem is only with good seed source. I try several times to germinate them (stratified, without stratification) no one of big amount germinate :( Seed were probably very old or not properly stored.
Interesting info about Akebia Karen :) Seems that many of Lardizabaceae is not only unusuall but also healthy...
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Stratification is recommended. Germination takes 1-3 months at 18°C. Likes moist, rich, loamy soil. Like most Lardizabalaceae, will grow in shade but will only produce significant fruit in the sun. Unlike most Lardizabalaceae, they're self-fertile :)
ErlendEllingboe:
I got some akebia fruit a couple years ago. Flavor was fine, fruits were sweet, seeds were incredibly bitter. It was a little awkward to extract the fruit without getting seeds, even swishing it around in your mouth. I'd heard people eat the skins kind of like eggplant, but maybe I prepared them wrong, because they were far too bitter for me. Like way more bitter than the most bitter bitter melon I've ever had. Check out Far Reaches Farm for its Chilean relatives.
Stomata:
Cool thread. Happened to notice this earlier today and twas a relevant coincidence. here is a source for a decaisnea:
https://store.experimentalfarmnetwork.org/products/mao-er-shi-shu?_pos=1&_sid=695ba164d&_ss=r
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