In the past two years I’ve discovered several different Eugenia species and cultivars sold as Surinam cherry. Some of them are listed in “Frutas No Brasil”. If you have a “Surinam cherry” specimen with zero petroleum flavor overtones then airlayers would be appreciated by many. Seedlings of these plants do not grow “true-to-type” - even from isolated shrubs.
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I grew up in Miami, where these are very commonly planted as hedges along sidewalks and I frequently grazed on them walking all over the city. I don’t know if those are usually seed-grown but I’d say up to 25% of them had none of those resinous/gasoline flavors once they were very ripe (soft and juicy). Most of the rest only had an aftertaste, but sometimes it was a strong flavor. The darker colors seemed to have better flavors usually, though not always.
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With the price if gasoline, I should be making money on my S cherries. But alas, this tree does not have anything close to gasoline!
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Too many projects, too little time… plus it’s too complicated to ship live plants to CA. Sorry…
The requirements to ship to California are no stricter than any other U.S. state or territory. But we do inspect more often than many other locations. It’s one of the reasons their taxes are lower and their infection rates are higher.
I can relate to that!
I currently live in Seattle, where sadly no Surinam cherries can grow. Plenty of actual cherries, though!
I collected a bunch of seeds from good bushes the last time I was in Miami, to grow in my greenhouse, but the bag got moldy in my suitcase and they never germinated. You could probably graft scions onto yours instead, and that wouldn’t require the time commitment to do air layers.
Much better! And much jealosy!! The low-chill cherries I’ve tried here have all failed.
I do wonder if the flavors in Surinam cherries are correlated with soil as well as genetics. In Miami there’s generally a thin or non-existent topsoil with solid limestone just below the surface, or at least jumbled limestone chunks. Maybe they like that highly alkaline soil and produce better fruit than in other soil types?
Ah “Terroir” is the word you were looking for 
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Also don’t forget utter neglect! That’s what my tree thrives on…
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Consider the native soil.
Also, as I said above there are other Eugenia species with the same shape fruit that is not bright red when ripe that might have different flavors.
I had an awesome cherry in Homested Florida that tasted like tangerine…
That’s like talking about the fish that got away.
Interesting looking fruit … where’s the plant?
BTW semeruco == acerola.
Homestead Florida
Within a single mature hedge in South FL you’ll often find a range of colors and flavors, presumably each hedge is made up of many distinct seedlings. Wouldn’t be surprised if there’s some hybridizing going on as well in “the wild” of Miami’s streets. As I said, the deeper colors (magenta to purple) are often better tasting, but sometimes the scarlet red ones also taste great.
I can distinguish acerola from Eugenia uniflora, but don’t claim to be able to distinguish any other Eugenia species that have the same leaf shape and fruit size and shape as uniflora, especially if they hybridize easily. Whatever the species is, Miami is full of fruit identified as Surinam cherries, a significant plurality of which lack meaningful unpleasant flavors.
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Cool! Thanks for your insight.
100% correct