I am convinced now that it is not. I just measured the brix level of a dead ripe Flavor Grenade pluot that, to my palate, was just as sweet as could be- a good deal sweeter than Green Gage plums coming in at 21 or so but the FG only reached 16 on the scale. I really think high brix levels can be indicative of less juiciness as much as sweeter taste. I realize that when fruit is watery it is bland so there is a point where brix and juiciness are in concert when brix levels just get too low, but I would like a tool that did a better job of measuring what the fruit actually tastes like.
I think this falls victim to the imprecision of language.
By definition, if you take some 20 brix fruit juice and dilute it 50/50 with water, you will cut the brix to 10, but the essential character of the flavor will remain the same. It will just taste diluted. Diluted sugar water is still nothing but sweet.
Brix tells you the concentration of the sugar in the solution. It doesn’t tell you the nature or balance of the flavor.
I’ve found the brix reading a good overall gauge of sweetness. Obviously it’s not indicative of other flavors.
Was the 16 brix FG crunchy? If mine are over watered they’ve been about 18 and no where near as crunchy as the 25 brix types. They also mature earlier.
Very crunchy and if it was sweeter I don’t think it would have tasted as good, but then, southerners tend to like higher sugar than us northerners. I can’t drink typical southern ice T or lemonade and I hate sweet BBQ. Too much sugar hurts my throat.
Other compounds can alter the perception of sweetness - a fruit that is not sour can taste sweeter than a fruit with more sugar but also more acid. Also different types of fruit have different ratios of fructose, glucose, and sucrose, and those three are not equal in terms of perceived sweetness (my vague memory is fructose is perceived to be more sweet per unit brix). The texture could also be a factor in terms of how the liquids are released.
PS Brix is still helpful to confirm impressions. I just harvested some Maria’s Joy pawpaws which seemed very sweet. Sure enough, the refractometer said 23 Brix! In the bit of searching I did 18 was the highest brix I could find recorded for a pawpaw.
Any chance the FG was over cropped? Given the 28 you got with lightly cropped Honey Royale, your dry weather, and the crunchy texture, FG should be more than 16 with proper crop load.
It was a bit over cropped as were most of my plums this year, unfortunately. My orchard is just getting out of hand- I keep adding trees without adding daylight. It was also a perfect storm of perfect conditions for fruit set this season Still, they were thinned enough to size up very nicely.
Has anyone noticed a relationship between brix and insect or disease damage? I noticed some research that indicated high brix fruits and vegetables were less likely to be attacked by insects or disease. Not sure if this is valid, but its interesting.
For bees its the opposite, it seems like they can “smell” the sugar and go for the sweetest fruits. A cheap brix meter for peaches is how much bee damage you get. I think this idea is true for some bugs and diseases. The way I frame it is the most vigorous and healthy fruits get less disease; they also get the most sugars.
My new orchard doesn’t include Flavor Grenade. Mainly because it’s such a pain to thin. The fruits are same color as the leaves and it sets 10 times too many fruits. So I can understand if your tree has too many fruit. Plus other than crunch the fruit isn’t special and I’ve had trouble getting the crunch many yrs.
Birds are pretty much brix junkies as well and rather discerning.
I am interested in any pluots that can reliably set fruit in the northeast. FG is my first and I find it an extremely enjoyable fruit in its season- in context with other things ripening then, its crisp burst of juicy sugar is highly refreshing and pleasurable to me and most I share it with. There are more complex flavors available in many plums ripening at this time but FG is sensational without the complexity. Unique texture and high sweetness is quite enough for it to hold its place in my orchard.
The actual reason it is not thinned enough is that the Citation rootstock is so sluggish that it didn’t supply nearly as many feeder annual shoots as it would if it was on myro. If I’d gotten more growth out of it the fruit would have been more than adequately served.
Birds, wasps, squirrels and chipmunks all make harvesting the highest brix stuff more challenging. I almost cut down the Honey Royale because I wasn’t left with any fruit last year. Animals take it while it is still green and hard. If it starts setting a real crop for me I expect to get a reasonable amount, but I don’t count on the brix being quite so high, which might be a good thing. .
I have a 4 in 1 pluot tree and only Flavor King was able to set fruit, the rest failed from the cold winter. It is rated high and seems to be cold hardy.