UC Davis Wolfskill Experimental Orchards, November 3, 2018
I took aril samples of pomegranates for better evaluation at home. Will publish results later
First the persimmons
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Looks yummy. Which pommergrate
variety did you like best?
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Awesome!
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Parfianka. It is soft seeded, sweet and tart.
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How would you rate the Tam Kam? Planning on planting one next year
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The one we tasted is bland, maybe it wasn’t as ripe as the Izu. One problem with tasting fruits is that you’re forced to taste them at the same time. I’d rather taste them at their peak flavors which doesn’t happen at the same time for all fruits.
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Joe, which was your favorite persimmon? Did anybody bring a brix meter to test for sweetness?
What an incredible opportunity to taste all those things at one time and place- I’d love to have that chance. I wish the persimmon displays had listed Brix the way the Poms did. Thanks for posting.
It’s hard to take the brix reading of semi-solid fruits like persimmons. The sweetest one I’ve tasted was the Izu, probably in the 16 Brix reading, the others could be in the 8-12. I am usually off by 1 or 2 brix based on my taste bud estimates.
My favorite ones for fresh eating are typically the PVNA types, the ones with chocolate brown flesh.
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One of the major problems in tasting fruits is that not all of them would be at peak flavor when you taste them together. Perhaps next year, we can plan to extract their juices when we think they’re at their peak flavors, preserve and freeze them properly, until we have all the varieties we want compared, and then thaw them for juice flavor evaluations against each other. The non-subjective physical measures such as brix readings, acids, softness of seeds, textures, color and dimensions of arils, sizes of fruits, can be taken and recorded at their peak flavor.
Has the white HAKU-BOTAN different taste (like yellow vs red raspberry)?
very tart, hard seeded, and delicious! My favorite
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It has a spicy bite, more tart than sweet. The only thing I don’t like about it is that the seeds are big and hard, but if you have juicer, doesn’t matter much. I like it’s little spicy hot tinge!
Some cultivars like the Agat, which is not in this year’s selection, is that it is super tart and can compete with lemons as condiments for cooking or souring agent.
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I just got some Wonderful Pommergrates for $1.19 /lb. They are very sweet and a little Tang. Mix drinks here we go.
Tony
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I just moved a Tam Kam and an Izu. The last few years, they have both gotten significant die-back for me here. I moved them to a rental property about 10 minutes South of me. But, it is only 2 miles from the ocean, while I’m 6. It is half a hardiness zone higher (7a vs 6b). And given that I was able to plant it on the South side of the rental house (my South side has driveway and deck blocking things) it may be enough.
The Tam Kam was a beast to transplant (tap root to sever). But the Izu came up without too much fight and had plenty of roots.
TamKam:
The Tam Kam was spreading out a lot, so I had to tie it up a bit.
Izu:
Note- the pic of the Izu roots was taken when I was gaugeing how much more hole I needed to dig. I didn’t just shove the roots in the hole I had, as this soil wasn’t too bad to dig, unlike what I have at home.
Izu planted:
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Bob,
How many hours did it took you to pull those two persimmon trees out?
I think Izu will suffer from claustrophobia after several years. 