They are high in tannins so not very good fresh.
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What you said about mangoes can be said about properly grown peaches, nectarines and some other stone fruits. Problem is the ones from your local farmers market or grocery store are way overwatered, over fertilized, and picked way before they are ripe for transport and to avoid loosing profits on bruised fruit. Same as your grocery store mangoes.
I have eaten some of the best stone fruits and mangoes, and they are comparable, but we like our best peaches and nectarines slightly better, a more intense flavor profile. That being said there is nothing more refreshing than a perfectly ripe juicy Edward mango, on a hot humid day fly fishing for tarpon in the Florida Keys.
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As a child… when dinosaurs roamed the earth… cherries were my absolute favorite food. Now the grocery store cherries have no flavor. Homegrown cherries, local fruit stand cherries, farmers’ market cherries - those are good! Same for peaches. Since storebought cherries are still occasionally good, when my husband does the grocery shopping he knows to bring me loads of cherries during the brief cherry season, grapes for the rest of the summer, navel oranges all winter, and berries at every opportunity. It’s hard to grow fruit where I live but I’m working on it. So far, the little Evans cherry has been the only one to really produce! Apples and pears are still awaiting a year when erratic spring frosts don’t kill all the blossoms (and sometimes the tree); but I’ve planted a late blooming, hardy Benton sweet cherry and Chinese apricot anyway, and ordered an Intrepid peach - ever the optimist.
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@clarkinks thanks for sharing the vid, great content…a friend was one of those people who couldn’t get past the smell for a few years until he took a trip to the south of the Philippines where they were abundant and thus almost blasphemous not to try…Once he had a taste of what smelled a bit like cat poop, he was instantly hooked… 
Later on that first day, he unfortunately discovered he was also one of those who get high blood pressure from it.
For me, aside from the heavenly flavors, durian was a perfect quick-acting early morning breakfast just a few minutes before my morning runs. I definitely noticed I got extra drenched in sweat after durian -powered runs vs other bfast.
Indeed the terroir is indeed a factor with durian.
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Agree. Though mangoes have been bred for generations in other countries. I grew up in India and there are some incredible varieties of heritage mangoes there that haven’t made it over here.
Totally agree with you though, it’s all about varieties, growing regions, climate/etc and if you can find something that is right for your yard/farm, it’s going to be incredible vs. almost anything else that’s store bought. For all the reasons that a lot of smart folks here have already enumerated on other threads. I had a related out of body experience 2 days ago (posted on the tropical fruit thread I started) where I had Starfruit that fell (on the way home) from a tree I bought at a nursery. It was so good and brought me back to an orchard I used to visit as a child. I’ve never had Starfruit like that in the intervening decades.
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@Plisa we have an active discussion going on around tropical fruit growing (esp in California) - would love any insights you have:
10000% agree with your comment. The heady aroma in the air in a ripe mango orchard or even while harvesting from a huge tree is incredible.
Elaichi Banana! You brought me back! I was just thinking the other day “is this something I can find here and grow”. I used to LOVE those too. As an aside, for non-Hindi speakers, “elaichi” means cardamom. So there is a very tasty variety of miniature banana in India that tastes like a banana with cardamom sprinkled on it. It’s amazing.
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Amazing! You’ve been on the fruit growing journey for a while!
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I cant grow these but I would choose
- crunchy Asian Persimmon,
- figs, but they tend to burn my mouth. I wonder if they do this for most people or if I’m sensitive?
Realistically.
- I would choose Apples because there isn’t a more versatile fruit.
- Asian Persimmon.
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try the romance series cherries from canada. esp juliet and Montmorency are very good . got 2 cold hardy sweet cherries grafted on the last one. may produce this year, tried a contender peach 2 years ago and it died to the roots. put in a reliance at another spot at higher elevation last spring. hopefully it makes it. got cold hardy mulberries started and some chinese chestnuts. trying persimmons next spring.
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I am talking about sweet cherries. The Denver area can grow tart cherries just fine according to CSU but sweet cherries supposedly do better in the side of Colorado with palisade and what not. Thing is everything does better on the side with palisade assuming you have a spray regiment though. I guess the Grand Junction/Palisade area has an issue with coddling moth the rest of the state does not have to deal with so that is their issue over there. A lot warmer with a lot longer of a season with way less snow and rain increasing fruit sweetness but pests thrive there as a result. I guess they are having issues of water problems so it is not all peaches and roses over there. Not to mention I think that part of Colorado has tarantula and scorpions so there is another layer of creepy things that live there.
I had a mango when in Dominican Republic so I would assume that was a supposedly ripe mango. Still not a fan. It was better than here in CO but was not nearly as good as a grocery store apricot, grocery store sweet cherry or grocery store peach here and like others said we are not even talking about growing here locally. I hear a good home grown apricot here will blow you away compared to store grown. Hoping to get a few of a grafted variety this year. I have a ungifted variety which is super strong and fruits reliably but gives serious dry mouth.
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I have aronia. When they are really ripe and well irrigated, like a month after they turn black, I like eating them fresh. Several, not handfuls. They still have a some astringency but are sweet, juicy and pleasant. If they aren’t well irrigated and probably had a lot of sun, they are dry, astringent, and sometimes somewhat bitter.
I’ve had very mixed results juicing them, and with bought juice. Ranging from delicious to thrown out.
Nothing is easier to grow and harvest and they are packed with nutrients.
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Don’t keep trying the same mangoes. You need different ones. I think its best to try fruit with the person who raves about it. Then you know if its palate or the fruit.
It’s like the Red Delicious apples grown in Washington state and sent across the world. It would be wrong to judge apples by those.
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We definitely have coddling moth as one of our main pests here, though I wasn’t aware west slope does.
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Thanks for the tips!
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Got my moths confused. Oriental moth is the one only in the palisade area. Here is the link where I saw it Backyard Orchard: Stone Fruits - 2.804 - Extension.
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There is a lot of PNW stuff that does well due to your weather that I have tried and just cannot make it here. I have tried cranberry lots of times and it has died, I tried thimbleberries lots of times and it died, I think I tried aronia and it died, I tried wintergreen and it died, I don’t think my salmonberry ever leafed out. The only ones I think I had luck with have been huckleberry and blackberries. They huckleberry does not really want to spread. My huckleberry are in the same diameter while my arctic raspberries have just taken over for example.
I like this game, but I can’t decide how to play.
Based on the fruits that make me feel the best after eating them, I’d pick longan and coconut.
If picking by the fruits which make up staple foods for me, I’ll pick banana and coconut.
But I’ve had pears and figs that have just been unbelievably good, and those fruits can give pretty long harvest periods, with diversity and storage.
I’ve had pluots and feijoas where I’m like, this has to be my favorite fruit, right? But it does sound kinda dumb to me to say that feijoas are my favorite fruit…
I’ve planted cherimoyas and avocados and the dream of picking these fruits in my yard is pretty incredible.
I probably gotta go with longan and coconut. Subject to change!
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…using my desert island scenario simplifies things, as this is often mentioned as a “rest of your life” location. Islands with sand only and at least two palm trees (for pollination).
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Avocadoes for guac and everything mango
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