I had Autumn Olives, which are similar.
Goumi seeds are difficult to germinate.
1 Like
I think those are the two I have. Side by side, one is sweeter. But I think its just because it ripens a week or so earlier and I compare them at different stages of ripeness.
2 Likes
That cake is a real beauty!
1 Like
My daughter and I really enjoy eating them directly from the plant. I’ll eat a handful when I’m near and they are about ripe. I’m looking forward to more next summer.
I guess its a difference in palate, if it isn’t a climate thing.
16 Likes
@anon47724557 It just occurred to me that you are the one who rails against hardy citrus for useable fruit. I’m hoping some of that is a matter of palate as well.
I’d probably choose goumi over blueberry, and here the Northern highbush blueberries are nearly care free.
If some of hardy citrus are as good as goumi, I’ll be very happy. I don’t need to compare them to dessert oranges. Good enough to replace lemons and limes - with some different flavor - seems worthwhile to me.
I’m growing Yuzu and Sudachi - both have fruits I’ve tried and want more of. I’ve recently grafted Shangjuan lemon - which I’ve never tasted. We’ll see how that goes.
I love the smell of mukrut lime, the kind whose leaves are used in Thai cooking, and had one in the house for a few years. It fruited, and I let one ripen. It smelled so good, I had the brilliant idea to juice it. -bad idea- My mouth wasn’t right for a long time after tasting it. I have some flying dragon growing. I’d approach tasting it with more caution, after my experience. I share this anecdote to point out that I don’t have an iron palate, and do have some standards 
10 Likes
Phelps citrange=>“The fruit should carry a warning label: Caution you are not really being poisoned - it just tastes that way.”
*Morton citrange=> Although the fruit looks like an ordinary orange, it has much worse flavor. Juice cannot be diluted to obtain satisfactory flavor, but the fruit may be consumed with a grapefruit spoon , if one is careful to not scrape too many astringent oil droplets off the section walls."
2 Likes
Yes, I’d seen that, but don’t think I made the connection between the author and the famine food comment about goumi.
I’ll consider the sour but insipid comment about Ichang lemon as faint praise by weak damnation, coming from you :). Since I quite enjoy famine food apparently.
6 Likes
I have a Red Gem and a Sweet Scarlet… planted like this…
Apple Tree - Goumi - Apple Tree - Goumi - Apple Tree…
So first priority was to help my Apples… second was I might get some fruit to eat.
They are in 2nd year now and the Red Gem berries are 2x as large as the Sweet Scarlet…
I have some that are quite plump now and red and starting to shrivel a little - and I tried some today and, yes some astringency, then sweet and nice flavor.
I saved 4 for my wife to try when she gets home this evening.
Right now the only other thing I have getting ripe and ready to eat (fruit wise) = Strawberries.
Goumi do not compare to a good Strawberry at all (IMO)… but it is something different, and early too.
TNHunter
3 Likes
Once you realize your never going to eat one out of hand. Flying Dragon’s are great. To juice them let it sit for a least a week on a counter before. To use it just combine the juice or zest 1:10 ratio with other citrus and anything you make from that will be awesome.
If you blend flying dragon with tangerine juice it will taste a lot like Calamansi.
4 Likes
Hmm, I wonder if my sweet scarlet may be mislabeled. The two varieties I have seem to have fruit of similar size.
They do get plenty of water.
Do they seem to be helping the apples? I have one next to a persimmon which has grown great, and one next to a fig tree which has languished. It did better last year after I gave it some nitrogen.
Both goumi have done great. 7 feet tall or so.
1 Like
I have Sweet Scarlet and Carmine goumi, and the Carmine fruit are about twice as big but not as tasty.
3 Likes
I watch a youtuber Ross Raddi ? and his fav Goumi is the Carmine, and he said it just had a much higher ratio of fruit to seed or pit ratio. I think he liked the flavor too. He is much more north of me…
I bought my Goumi at OGW and they do not have a Carmine there…
I saw a post here on this board about a week ago where someone showed a Raintree Select Goumi and it looked huge to me… much larger than my Red Gem’s.
I got out this morning, just after sun up and checked out my Goumi bushes and apples and took a few pics.
I think I was perhaps wrong on the size difference in the Red Gem and Sweet Scarlet… or at least it may be too early to tell for sure on that.
My Red Gem, bloomed and finished blooming… before my Sweet Scarlet did… and well the Red Gem fruit are maturing, getting ripe, and they seem to stay quite small until the very end then they swell up, get plump, then soften as they turn, orange, then red…
I think my Red Gem is just ahead of my Sweet Scarlet… and when the Sweet Scarlet catches up, the fruit may be similar in size.
On the Bush Size… my Red Gem is a good 5 ft tall and quit bushy and thick. The Sweet Scarlet is a bit smaller, 4.5 ft, and a little less bushy. They are growing in the same conditions and only a few feet apart (12-14).
Below is a pic of my Red Gem, just one branch off it…
As you can see several fruit are maturing…
And below is my Sweet Scarlet…
Most of the fruit are still sort of slim and pointy… but I think that is just because they have not got to that phase near the end when they really swell up and get plump. Notice in the top left corner there is one (still green) that has rounded out and is quite a bit larger.
I bet they will be similar in size once they start getting ripe.
And this is a pic of part of my apple - goumi - apple - goumi - apple string in a food forest / permaculture bed.
it just shows one apple (Hudson Golden Gem) my Sweet Scarlet, then a (Gold Rush) apple.
The other apple not in the pic is a Akane…
So I have Akane, Red Gem Goumi, Hudson Golden Gem, Sweet Scarlet Goumi, Gold Rush apple in that string.
All 3 apple trees this is year 2 for them, and they are 9-10 ft tall and looking good to me.
The Gold Rush bloomed this spring, the other two did not.
But I have a Mac Apple about 90-100 yards away in my older orchard, and I picked some blooms off it and pollinated the Gold Rush. It has 3-4 flower clusters with fruit set now. I may only let 2-3 of those remain since it is still just a youngster.
@murky - I don’t know for sure if the Goumi are helping the apples, but they are all (apples and goumi) are looking good and healthy and growing nicely.
My food forest bed there remains mulched with deep hay, I put down more 2x a year, and I mean deep.
When I planted it last Spring, I watered only after the initial planting… and with all that mulch in place they thrived all year, even late summer with no watering.
We did get quite a bit of rain last year, more than usual… so that helped too.
TNHunter
4 Likes
A branch of Carmine goumi (larger elongated fruits) grafted on to Sweet Scarlet goumi (smaller round fruits). I like the flavor of the Sweet Scarlet - a better balance of sweet and tart. The Carmine have very little tartness.
12 Likes
Thank you, this is quite helpful for those looking to choose between the varieties.
i’ve got Sweet Scarlet and now I want Carmine as well…
Scott
4 Likes
I have Sweet Scarlet and Red Gem grafted. Carmine might have a larger pit but it looks like a keeper to me.
4 Likes
2 pack a day smoker with a cold? That’s the only person I’d recommend eat flying dragon fruit. Every time I handle trifolilate/flying dragon fruit I have to use lacquer thinner to remove the sticky residue on my fingers. I wonder that that does to your insides?
2 Likes
I cut up about a dozen fruit last fall and never noticed the sticky residue that I’ve read your comments on for years. My kids and I did the clove treatment to them for the holidays last year and they smelled wonderful…and my kids would have complained had their fingers been sticky from doing so
I find them bracingly sour, but I’ve not noticed anything disagreeable beyond that sourness.
I will complain that my poncirus fruit are far smaller than I thought they would be (most are quarter sized or smaller).
Just how big are the fruit you are getting? Perhaps the resinous issue is only a problem with larger fruit?
Scott
1 Like
I have red gem and sweet scarlet… from OGW.
I have heard youtuber… Ross Raddi brag on his carmine goumi… larger fruit to pit ratio, good flavor at the right time…
Do any of you know of a good nursery that sells Carmine goumi ?
Also… someone posted pics of a rain tree select goumi here a while back and it was huge. (well for a goumi).
Have you tried those ?
TNHunter
3 Likes