Anyone grow tamarillo? I have three I started from seeds overwintering in the basement. Having never tasted them I’m just curious if it’s worth the space?
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Yes i grow them. You can see photos on my thread. In my oppinion they don’t have an easy flavour to eat out of hand but they are very rich. They can be juiced with orange to make orange juice + tamarillo. You can do marmellades too
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I’ve only had the occasional supermarket fruit, but I like them. From the taste you can tell that they are related to tomatoes, but they’re a bit fruitier and not as savory. At least the red supermarket varieties I’ve had have a leathery and very bitter skin though, so I cut them in half and eat them with a spoon. I actually planted one of those seeds earlier today. I’m also growing Dwarf Tamarillo, which is another fruit I’ve yet to try ^^
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Thanks for the feedback, I’ve read mixed reviews and was just curious. I can’t believe how fast they grow! I started seeds late winter last year and they’re almost 6 feet tall now. They branched off and put out little buds just as I brought them in. So I imagine I’ll be able to try fruits next season.
How was the taste? I got flowers on mine, unfortunately that was in early Sept so they never produced fruit.
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Hi! It’s usual to get flowers without fruit on first year. The flavour is like tomato+passion fruit. It’s not great but juiced with orange juice it’s nice. It’s very rich in vitamins.
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Thanks, I’d really like to try it. I have three of them I’m overwintering. Hopefully next season! They are definitely vigorous growers, I may need to up-pot them to 25 gal pots…
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They are very beautifull trees and if weather don’t get too cold (below zero celcius) it’s a free flower tree producing fruits during all year. This trees got really loaded and very beautifull!
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I love ‘em and so do my kids. Everyone Ive given samples too has said how good it was too.
My favorite way to eat them is peeled and then rolled in sugar. They remind me a lot of both guava and passionfruit. I just hacked mine back so that I can dig it and overwinter in a container. Ive had this one going for nearly a decade. I have lots of it if anyone wants a cutting. They root very easily and are fruit well the next year.
This is my first year planting it in the ground in the high tunnel. The yield about quadrupled and fruit size doubled. The fruits are further along than in years past too, though looking at your pics @Luisport, Im guessing daylength is a big factor in ripening, rather than strictly length of season. Ive tried leaving them to hang after digging and picking green then artificially ripening in a bowl. There seems to be little difference in quality, so I just pruned back and picked everything. Its a good producer. Im guessing I wound up with 150 fruits or so.
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Hi. I think some of them you pick too green. They have to get some color change to mature i think, but you will see.
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I didnt have much choice since seasonal cool weather is here now. Wednesday night looks to be about 25 degrees. In years past Ive dug it up with fruit attached, but Ive found that they ripen similarly when harvested quite green.
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I had my first store bought tamarillo today. My wife found a smalll quantity for sale at the local international grocery and snatched them up. Ive read so many times how popular they are in NZ and parts of Europe too.
The size of the fruit made my home grown ones seem diminutive, so I was curious how the flavor would compare. I think our homegrown ones are really tasty but Ive always had a nagging suspicion theyd be far better grown in the proper climate. Well, Im happy to report our tamarillos, which have all bowl ripened nicely, if a little wrinkly, actually tasted better by all accounts than the jumbo store bought ones!
Here’s some photos to compare. The big boughten ones on the bottom were far easier to cut and scoop, but my preferred method is actually to peel the whole fruit. Im quite fond of the firm outer flesh and that part is normally left behind when you scoop:
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After hearing good things about tamarillos from a few people over the years, I finally decided this is the year I’ll try growing a few. Based on some recommendations on another forum, I went with these four species from Brian Laufer aka Raindance Seeds:
My plan is to keep them in containers for a couple years and see how they handle our winters before deciding whether to put them in the ground either outside or in the greenhouse.
Hopefully I get decent germination, I’m hoping to start with four of each species as seedlings, and cull that to two of each as mature plants.
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Those varieties are incredible! Congratulations!
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I’m still picking tamarillos… without negative temp. they fruit all year!
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I ordered all four myself @swincher . The descriptions are definitely enticing. I tried looking them up and found almost nothing except some tropical fruit forum or daley’s thread about hardy tamarillo. There were only a handful of posts but people were saying they tasted really awful or something to that effect. Im definitely keen to try them though. I think its a really promising genus. I bought a couple of narajillo relatives from raindance too, though I forget which offhand.
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I can get them every week in Philly this month via some food delivery service. They are alright. Didn’t blow me away but kinda interesting.