Monday, December 12, 2005

Tropical Fruits in our Kitchen Garden

Even though we have less than a quarter of an acre, including house and garage, we still find space to plant our banana trees. The banana trees are useful as a privacy screen and give our yard the feel of a distant tropical location. The bonus in all this is of course the bananas. Unlike the grocery store variety, (Cavendish I believe) the fruits we pick are about four inches in length and sweet with a hint of lemony tartness.

The bottom photograph, pick your spelling, is a chirimoya or cherimoya, and sometimes called a sugar apple. We were introduced to these exotics while dining at a Vietnamese restaurant; a waitress entered the room with a carton of these strange lumpy fruits and graciously gave us two to sample after our dinner. An explanation of how to eat them was also provided. We had never experienced a fruit as exquisitely sweet with the consistency of cooked custard and overtones of cinnamon and vanilla. Needless to say all seeds were saved and carefully folded in a napkin to be planted at the appropriate time. Our first fruit appeared the second year after planting with a plant height of five feet. Now in their third year they are nearly ten feet tall with many more fruit. For more information on this fruit or to order seeds go to:
  • www.tradewindsfruit.com/sugar_apple_pictures.htm
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