exotic fruit tasting report

16 years ago

Over the last week, I have been able to taste quite a few exotic fruit that I have never tasted before. Here is a report.

Bruce Canistel (at Harry's place). Surprisingly good. Super sweet- zero acidity or complexity- but pleasnatly sweet and very hearty and satisfying. 7.5/10

Zill Black Surinam cherry- (Harry's place)- there was only one ripe one on the tree- in fact it was very slightly over-ripe but it was awesome- a real winner- 8.5/10

Page orange-(Harry's place)- does not peel well but excellent taste- 8/10

Bell Carambola- (Harry's place)- decent but nothing special- could not tell the difference between it and a seedling fruit growing right next to it. 6/10

June Plum- (Harry's place)- kinda bitter- fruit got better the closer to the stone I got. Vaguely reminiscent of mango. 5.5/10

Kishu Tangerines- http://www.tangerineman.com/- hyped as the best tasting tangerine- these are really small- about the size of a medium cherry tomato. really good. completely sweet- no acidity at all. lacked a little complexity due to lack of acid but very good. Insanely expensive- $45 for a ten pound box plus $40 for shipping to NY. Had to try it once but would not spend the $ again. 8/10

Cherimoya- cherimoya.com- not sure which variety. about grapefruit sized. Really good, despite many seeds. creamy consistency with tropical pear taste. cost $35, inc shipping, for 2 cherimoya, 4 white sapote, and 4 white cactus pear. 8/10.

white sapote- cherimoya.com- very sweet- a little bland. kinda guava consistency but less gritty. wouldnt kick it out of bed. 7.5/10

white cactus pear- cherimoya.com- almost impossible to eat without getting a bunch of annoying spines in your fingers. very seedy- mediocre taste- 5.5/10.

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Comments (5)

mango_kush
16 years ago
from what Ive tried on that list I would agree with your assessment.

I dug up my ambarella and carambola and put them in containers to use the room for lychee and mango.
Andrew Scott
16 years ago
That's dissapointing regarding the carambola bell. I have really been considering it. Maybe I won't get one. More room for another mango.
Andrew
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hmhausman
16 years ago
Gerry:

In fairness to Bell Carambola....the one you had at my house may not have represented the best that they could be. I didn't share the fruit you tasted with you as it was small. It had the right color, but was mis-shaped and about 1/5 the size of the previous fruit I picked. Unfortunately, since the tree was just planted about two months ago, the last couple of fruits the tree has been holding have been tiny and perhaps even affected by the cold. I would not make any final judgments about it until you had a better representative fruit in the future.

Harry
ohiojay
16 years ago
Ger...was the Bell fruit you tasted very ripe? It's the only way to eat them in my opinion. Mine was crazy juicy and very sweet. Found only one seed in five fruits. But to keep things in perspective...does it rank with lychees and mangosteens? Absolutely not.

Going on what Harry just mentioned...I also had some small fruit that developed also and they fell way short of flavor and sweetness.

This has been by far the best flavored and sweetest carambola I've tasted. From what I've been able to discover, the Bell is in the very top for sweetness... maybe exceeded only by the fabled B17 variety.

Jerry Rogers...haven't heard from him on the forum in a while, and I were desperately trying to find this plant way back. He was really digging into the research on this variety. Here is something he found:

"The B-17 was mentioned in the book, "Florida's Best Fruiting Plants" by Boning.
In Malaysia they call it the Crystal Honey Carambola due to its high sugar content. A 2007 research paper in Hort Technology showed that the B-17 had the highest soluble sugars, highest yield and highest quality of Carambolas tested over four years in Puerto Rico by the USDA Tropical Research Center."

No one carried any trees of this variety. However, the USDA Germplasm center in Hilo, HI, did have scions that were always available. Alas...tried grafting these on two separate occassions without success. Tried multiple grafting techniques and not a one even came close. Gave up and was able to graft a Bell onto my big seedling.
lycheeluva
Original Author
16 years ago
Harry and Jay- I will gladly revisit the issue in June! plus its just my personal taste anyway-
as an aside, for me sugar content is only half the story of great taste- a good acid balance is equally important to my spoilt taste buds.