Cherry Of The Rio Grande (Eugenia involucrata)

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Richard! Almost looks like a mini pomegranate. Very pretty. Taste? What is it used for?

I like them fresh. They taste like sweet cherry + a little banana. :slightly_smiling_face:

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They sound so tasty,I recently bought a small plant to try.bb

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We tried various tropical “cherries”. Barbados cherry was the worse, no one liked it. The red surinam cherry was not good either, but one person said it was not bad, but he did not want another one. The black surinam was only slightly better.

However, the Cherry of Rio Grande was liked by most of the family. A mild cherry like flavor. It did take about 5 years to bear any fruit. But that was with going through Hurricane Harvey and being under water for 6 or 7 days. It is also fairly cold tolerant for a tropical plant, taking temperatures down to 30 degrees without damage. Anything lower and I put it in the garage.

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Today’s snack fruit

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I’m impressed! Do you think these can propagate by cuttings?

In a suitable outdoor climate they start fruiting in a year or two by seed. They are members of the Myrtle family and rooting cuttings is difficult. Air layering works though.

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Wow, that’s great news, I hope they stay true to seed?

No. On the other hand I believe there are no named cultivars.

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@Richard I know you’ve had your tree for a while but do you remember if the taste has changed as the tree has matured? Our tree fruited a few fruits last year that were terrible, this year they are better but still awfully tart. Will try leaving them to hang on longer but hoping maybe they’ll improve with time. Guessing it was a seedling so might just be unlucky though.

The fruits taste the same to me over the years.

Are the fruits dark when you eat them? The reddish ones can be tart.

Maybe I should air-layer my plant!

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Ripe fruit on a piece of cardboard

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We may have gotten greedy picking too early!

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My Cherry of the Rio Grande I grew were not tart at all. I did let them ripen until the were the color that Richard showed in the above picture.

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For some reason I’m unable to find a single source for seeds of the Rio Grande Cherry. Any leads please?

Soon to be seedlings.

Cherry%20of%20the%20Rio%20Grande%20seed%20jar

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Today

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Oh wow! Let me know if there are any leftovers please. Thanks

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