Friday, April 8, 2016

Amazon Custard Apple. Post by Cory

One of the new fruits we are enjoying now is the Biriba, Rollinia deliciosa / Rollinia mucosa.

A type of custard apple that's soft, mild flavored, slightly sweet, and the better ones have a hint of lemon or lime flavor.

I was not real impressed with the flavor when I first tried them in Brazil.

The fruit I grew here tastes about the same, but now that a 5 year old tree, in half shade, produced about 35 fruits weighing from 1-2 pounds each, my interest is growing. 

Eating one are two a day has also improved my opinion.

The people that we have shared fruit with like them and Gener's kids love them.

 So we planted 50 seeds in the nursery this week.

There are 12 fruiting size trees growing on campus and they are blooming heavily now so we may have a second crop late summer or fall and that will make demand for the trees.

I try to be careful to distribute the best varieties if fruits.

I have a few small trees from another source that may be better quality shorter trees so it is hard to know whether to wait or to propagate plenty now.

They are drought sensitive so they will not do well in the drier parts of Haiti.

The sugar apples that thrive on LaGonave do not do well in this area, so each has its own climate.

1 comment:

tominHaiti said...

So cool to see the fruit and know it is in Haiti. Our Surinam cherry just started fruiting and the taste is not near as good as it was in Costa Rica a couple of years ago. Another tree will be fruiting soon and hopefully that will have better flavor.

Hoping we can get some more canistel fruit from you next fall. Ours are growing well. Sadly, the mango grafts did not take well. Only about 15 survived. Next time I need you to teach my staff how to do it.

I love your blogs, but my favorites of course have a new fruit photo!

For those of you who support Corey and his family, Cory is the expert on tropical fruits in Haiti. I like to grow them but I consult with him often.