I’ve found that one’s at ethnic markets tend to be better quality then from the grocery store. Also a lot less expensive. Here you will pay $2.99 a pear in the grocery store versus that for a clamshell of four in an Indian or Asian store. I was actually impressed enough to want to grow them.
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But most jujubes don’t grow very well in your climate. Most need long hot summers to properly mature fruit. So it’s good you’re not taking up space for them.
I agree about the paw paw. Not for me. Sorry, this was meant for fruitnut’s reply.
I agree on the asian pears. I thought about growing them for more diversity in the variety of fruit. I then learned they were the same as apple pears and I tried a apple pear from Costco last year but could not finish one fruit. I can eat European pears all day with their sweet and no grit texture though.
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Blackberries - I am north enough that there are no local farms. Anything I get shipped in store is OK - not sweet or particularly flavorful. They are worlds away from raspberries. It blows my mind that there are people that would grow them instead of raspberries. I figure its a variety/shipping thing but has me guessing if I should try to grow on the northern friendly varieties as here raspberries very much grow wild.
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Get a Black Raspberry bush.
Not blackberry.
2 different species!
Black Raspberries have much stronger flavor & aromas.
A few varietals, there are many more.
Some of the best tasting are not listed Google “Black Raspberry”, not blackberry.
PennState Extension:
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LOL.
apologies not fully reading before responding.
Yes Raspberry of all colors are the best.
Wild Black Raspberry Mt Rainer is the pinnacle of perfection!!!
I love my Viking Aronia berry fresh off the bush. Have to let it ripen fully, but mine seemed to be good the first year I had it. I eat one and let it flood my pallet. Then all the other ones I eat taste much better.
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I must love everything lol… Okra is amazing in gumbo. Or dried fun to eat.
Asparagus is about the only thing i dont really care for. Raw tender its ok.
Love all berries and pears and kale even lambsquarter in butter.
Have had a few jujube just a few like storebought dried and sour wild rootstock were good but the dried Lefleur @jujubemulberry sent me were amazing! Cant wait to be semi-drying sihong, sugarcane, KFC etc!!! 
Havent had pawpaw yet but I know im gonna love them! 
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At our farmers market yesterday, my wife ordered west African okra stew over rice for us from a fellow vendor. I was amazed how good it was.
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I don’t necessarily think pollenation is the only issue. i’ve got a small suburban lot and I have 6 honeyberry bushes, most of which are 5+ years old and I rarely get more than a pint between them, and the problem is lack of fruit setting not losses to critters…
These plants are just stingy sometimes.
I had a good year 4 years ago, which is funny as I only had 2 at the time. That was when I decided to add more. Counting the lonicera fragrantissima, I have a ton of blooming honeysuckles in the early spring.
I’ve never had a good avacado, star fruit, dragon fruit…
I’m also not a huge fan of hard squash (except spaghetti) or sweet potatoes.
Scott
I think people eat bitter melon more for the health benefits, as lordkiwi says. There are several things that people in various Asian countries eat that are very healthy but don’t naturally fit an American health palate: natto, shirataki, amla, turmeric. They tend to have better health than we do. Surprise!
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Haha, I am lucky to live where black raspberries grow wild. I still like reds/yellows more though.
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i no longer could keep track of what i have sent whom, and obviously too late now, but some of the dried jujubes have sent(especially those meant for seed purposes) were picked off the ground. Please don’t eat if labeled as such! There might be bugs in them or soiled by feral cats.
anyway, will send you some sihongs and sc later this year 
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as for the topic at hand, it will serve as valuable “soft” reference especially for folks who have room for just one tree or just a few trees, but could lead to “if many posters don’t like it, then i probably don’t like it” It is just that anyone’s personal preference is subjective and individualized.
that said, it is no longer a matter of me being sad hearing about people not liking durians or pawpaws, but more of being happy for folks who love them. As with musical prferences it can be an individual thing and subjective. Won’t go out of my way to try influence those who don’t dig bach, chopin, and albeniz nowadays, but will go out of my way seek the company of folks who do
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One of our room mates after collage was a Vietnamese grad student. Poor guy never cooked for himself and had showed no appetite in learning how. We where generous and often shared plenty of food. But at times we knew he was struggling with American and Caribbean cuisine. Thanksgiving one year I made braised bitter stuffed with ground chicken mushrooms and clear noodles. He was so thankful. I asked him if he wanted the broth and he almost died thanking me.
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Bitter melon needs to be cooked right to taste good.
Try roasting it or air frying it. It is one of the most delicious things you can eat. Very unique flavor with just the hint of bitterness. Spice it with pepper or red chili powder and a hint of lime.
Far superior in flavor to potato chips.
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say it ain’t so
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Honestly a lot of Asian cultures are way different than us in the west. I used to be major into anime before becoming sick of it because it honestly started to look like the same shows repeated over and over time me. During this time I learned a lot of negative things about Japan though. They are the opposite of us where we have people having to many children most of them have never done the deed, we are big people and they are small people ( clothes are way smaller in Japan and many Asian countries), here in America we try for the 40 hour work week if possible (most of us work a lot more if they want to survive but we still try for it) and Asian countries work a lot, with Asian countries a side affect of all the work they do is friends are generally closer than friends here in the US (ghosting entirely is pretty much unheard of in Asian countries) but the caveat to the closer bonds with friendships is they often only meet every few months. Of course we are not even talking about things like our ties to Asian countries after WW2. If you go to villages where the atom bombs were dropped as a white person you will still get looks today.
Nice!! Some of the Louisiana dishes are a mix of African and French. Cajun and Creole. Okra is used a lot in stews, gumbos, both over rice, and other things that are poured over rice like shrimp e’toufee, also put in a pot of blackeye peas, or in jambalaya.
We pickle it too.
Yeah we love Okra!
Yikes haha, well they were great and Im still alive but yeah I cant recall if I asked beforehand but yeah I should be cautious. But yeah I am known to push the line when it comes to fruits
Thanks so much!
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