Anyone growing blackberry jam fruit (Rosenbergiodendron formosum)?

General Fruit Growing
#1

Has anyone grown this? It’s probably too much to ask that the fruit really tastes like blackberry jam but it’s related to gardenia and the flowers look pretty. Will see how it goes!

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#2

I grew it since 2017 more or less. It started fruiting a few months ago. I found the flavor closer to dried figs & prunes than blackberry jam. The pulp is scant because most of the inner space is occupied by loads of big seeds…

I’ve heard people complain about actual blackberry seeds, and I’ve never had a problem with them. Pomegranate seeds, on the other hand, are too much for me. Well I found B-Jam seeds closer to Pomegranate: hard to break by chewing, highly objectionable. Essentially, I always sucked on the pulpy seed mass and spit out the seeds. I always suspected that maybe I could’ve swallowed the seeds whole, but I never bothered to try.

I don’t consider it an edible fruit tree… I consider it an ornamental, who’s pulp is incidentally edible, but definitely not a crop.

I don’t have much space available to me, and it was growing somewhat hidden in the side yard, where its ornamental value was lost (not to mention it had gotten leggy, not bushy), so I cut it down a few weeks ago and ripped out the rootball. In its place, I planted an actual Blackberry (Prime Ark Freedom), with the Goji a couple of feet next to it.

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#3

Thank you for the insights. Prunes sound tastier than raisins (which I had also read).i will probably keep it in a container and enjoy the flowers and novelty aspect

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#4

That’s why soft-seeded pomegranate varieties are much better.

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#5

I never knew there’d be a difference in seed quality. I just thought I was weird for disliking the seeds. ¿Which Pomegranate varieties have soft seeds?

#6

A lot of them. Agat, Ariana, Azadi, Dahistan, Desertnyi, Eversweet, Fleischman, Gissarskii Alyi, Gissarskii Rozovyi, Medovyi Vahsha, Molla Nepes, Myagkosemyannyi Rozovyi, Messarian, Myatadzhy, Neozhidannyi, Pamyati Rozanova, Parfianka, Shainakskii, Sin Pepe, Sirenevyi, Sogdiana, Sumbar, Sumbarskii, Syunt, Utah Sweet, Vina, Vkusnyi.

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#7

Is there much variation in flavor, quality & climate preferences? I’d give a quality pomegranate a try.

#8

You can find more info about pomegranate varieties in this book: