I tasted my first custard apple in Taiwan last year. It was really sweet .
Hereās my favorite tropical fruits, in top to bottom order.
Custard Apple
Durian
Mangosteen
Milk Fruit
Longan
Lychee
Rambutan
Jackfruit
Tom,
I do not know milk fruit at all. I looked it up. Still, it does not ring the bell.
Any way, for those wanting to grow lychee, Logeeās has it for sale. It says you can grow it in ground for zone 10 or higher.
Thanks so much. Fresh lychee here I come!
Such high praise for the custard apple, which is closely related to the native American pawpaw.
and also related to the ylang-ylang , a tree which bears sweet-smelling flowers. Custard apples ripened on the tree have ylang-ylang overtones, which amplifies the flavor and taste.
your list makes me droolā¦
have had the luxury, or should i say-- privilege-- of having grown and eaten tropical fruits and temperate fruits in asia, and in america(respectively), and tropical fruits are far and away the better tasting. People could eat a couple of specialty peaches or apples, but after a couple, oneās likely to find oneās self done for the day. But when eating langsat, custard apple, mangos, sapodillas, lychees, etc-- greed and avarice seem to be the rule and not the exception, lol!
there are only two milky-white fruits i am aware of: coconut, and Chrysophyllum caimito. I could surmise the milk fruit pertained to is the latter. A beautiful tree, with delicious milky fruit. There is also a purple caimito, which is less desirable due to the mealy pulp.
Just bought mangosteen and lychee here in San Diego, Ranch 99 supermarkets. Mangosteen is incredible and $10 per pound.
Matt in MD,
I like custard apple. That is why I decide to grow paw paw this year. Although my trees are not wild, I hope I will like the taste.
I also agree with Jujubemulberry about a large amount of tropical fruit one can eat. I can eat kilograms, not pounds, of my favorite tropical fruits.
Mangosteen, lychee, durian, jackfruit are my favorite because they have more than just sweetness.
My favorite fruit here is plum but I do not think I could eat more than a pound of plum at a time.
Lychees are quite popular here in Europe. I also buy Rambutan and Longan at local asian market.
I was looking into cold hardiness and I think they can both handle up to ~27degrees.
I got a story to encourage some of you who want to give growing of Lychee/Longan a try. I used to live in Northern Virginia where I visited a lot of houses (as part of my job). Around 2006 I worked in Manassas/Centreville area and visited townhouse and they had this bowl full of strange looking fruit. When I asked what is it, the owner (immigrant, possibly Thai) told me itās longan and that he planted a seed in his backyard and itās growing and giving him this fruit. It was planted right behind the house, bush about 12-15ft high. I didnāt care much about fruit that time but after I read about longan/lychee couple of years later I was very surprised he succeeded in growing it there. If you check online you will find out itās not grown anywhere north of Floridaā¦well I am not making this up and till today itās like a mystery for me. I wish I knew the address to contact this guy, cause it certainly was an out of place experience (hope you know what I mean, sorry Eng. is not my first language). I think this kind of fruit needs eastern coast humidity with Southern California temperature
Mamuang,
I looked up for milk fruit proper name but itās confusing. Caimito, star apple, Chrysophyllum cainino among other names! You probably had it before while lived in the tropic. Theyāre sweet and tasty. Hereās some picturesā¦
Hereās a link for reading: http://en.vietnam.com/culture/food-beverages/fruits/star-apple-vu-sua.html
Matt,
Iāve just learned that custard apple is a close relative of American pawpaw last year! So, I ordered and received 2 for my garden this year. The only disappointment I have is they were shipped as tiny whips! Iāll have to stick around many years to see if they tasted as praisedā¦
Tom
Tom,
The color is what threw me off. Once I saw the inside on your picture. I know what it is. I donāt know the English name. We have it. Ours are rather large, larger than a tennis ball size, and mostly brown/tan with green undertone.
It really depends which variety it is. Some can be quite sour. The good ones are very sweet. They so many seeds, making it a bit annoying to eat. I sometimes just swallow the seeds instead of spitting them out.
For some sour ones, we peel the skin off and pickle the rest. Itās quite good.
Tom,
Where did you buy your paw paws? I bought mine last weekend from Logeeās in CT. The varieties are Shenandoah and Mango. Iāve both varieties are good. They are about 1.5-2 ft tall. Not cheap at $30 a plant.
I figured I want to grow them now so I paid for my impulsiveness.
I meant to say I have heard. Iāve never eaten any paw paw but after reading Tonyās description and picture, it sounds similar to custard apple.
Mamuang,
I told you! Itās the lost of translation, not the lost of our love for fruits! Especially fruits that we can associate with our childhoodā¦
Thatās interesting to know that you can pickle milk fruit. Another interesting thing is I have no clue that milk fruit could be sour? I always have the sweet ones from the market. Even my distance relativeās orchard who lives in the countryside had sweet ones!
I bought 4 pawpaws from Burnt Ridge and split half with my brother. Again, once I found out from Tony that it tastes like apple custard (I have not even tasted one yet!), I called up my brother. We looked through some Wikipedia pictures and read up a bit before putting in an order. It costs $18/pc and I did not realize that weāre going to get 6" -12" sticks!
They are: Susquehana, Allegheny, Overleese and Mango. I own the first two and my brother get the last two. Maybe one day when these things grow bigger, we can trade scion woods for more variety?
Now I can only wait!
Tom
Mamuang,
My grandma always told me to spit out the seeds. She said that I could die if the tree grew out from the top of my head. And that was very scary to hear at that time!
Have you check up the top of your head today yet?
Tom
Mamuang & Tom,
Paw paws usually start to flower when your grafted trees grow to about 4.5 to 5 feet tall. Fruit a lot sooner if the scion has flowers before grafting. Hand pollination with a small paint brush is the best way for pollination. Flowers bloom for a period of around 10 days so do have amble time to help them out. My 8 yrs old Mango paw paw are loaded with the baby cluster of fruits right now. I lost count and probably over 80 fruits and the 4 yrs old Shenandoah have over 40 baby fruits. The Susquehanna bears less. Just give them some TLC and in about 4 years they will reward you with some sweet tropical flavor fruits.
Tony
I vote for that too, Mamuang.
I can sit down and eat a full size durian or a copious amount of longan or lychee or mangosteen.