Fall fruit raid/harvest

[jkuo]

Today's fruit plates were delicious and totally not from my trees. I went to visit bigbill today to pick up paw paws, and managed to leave with some figs and jujubes. Somehow, both times I've visited Bill, I've managed to leave with more than I intended to pick up.

Quick impressions:

Scott's Black - Nice sweetness and berry flavor. Despite being fairly tasty, it was overshadowed by the Lyndhurst White and Adriatic JH.

Lyndhurst White - I was surprised at how tasty this was. There was an acidic berry bite on the first taste, and then the sweetness hit. I'm glad I have a tree started and can look forward to some fruit next year.

Adriatic JH - The dark red interior is beautiful. The flavor had distinct berry flavor and was quite sweet. This is another winner I'm looking forward to when my trees start bearing.

Qalaat al Madiq - From the color of the pulp, I was expecting a deep honey flavor. The flavor was kind of mild though. I suspect I got the outlier considering how highly others rate it. Either that or the Lyndhurst White and Adriatic JH dulled my taste buds since I had those first.

Chiappetta - Not pictured. This one actually got smashed due to the bag being poorly located (i.e. dropped in a walking path zone in a rush to get the children into the house and fed). I had to do my duty and eat the poor fig before I could take a photo. Anyhow, the flavor was unique on this one. It had a tart berry taste balanced by a moderate sweetness. There was some other background earthy note I couldn't place.

[Kelby]

That'll happen with Bill, he's good people!

[Bigbill]

Johnny, I'm dying to know...what's the verdict on the paw paws and jujubes? What did the family think? Jujubes are quickly becoming one of my favorite fruits.

[jkuo]

Bill,

The jujubes were a hit! I initially thought they were like a crisp but really dry mild apple, but then the sweetness hit a few moments later. They were tasty, and I could see myself snacking on a bunch of them. My wife loved them, and my mother in law who came to see the kids also loved them. I got the wife's approval to plant as many jujubes as I want in the yard, which is a dangerous thing to tell a gardening nut who likes growing fruit.

The paw paws were hit or miss. My wife tried a couple and wasn't a huge fan. I removed the pulp from all the fruit in the bag to freeze and sampled a little bit of each. They were really variable. Some were really mushy while others were firm. Some had this pineapple-y banana taste, others had a mild banana taste, and others had an unpleasant bitterness. Seediness was highly variable, but mostly too seedy for my wife's taste. She didn't enjoy having to work around so many seeds. I was ambivalent on most of the paw paws, except for one in the batch which had a semi-firm texture and a nice pineapple-banana flavor. That one kept growing on me as I was eating it.

I see what you mean about the unique taste of the paw paws. I think it's a fruit I can like (and maybe convince the family to like). I'll be sticking with cultivated varieties since I like more predictability (and less seediness) in my fruit.