Tried a new thing. Raspberry fruit jellies. Fall raspberries cooked with sugar, mostly strained and then cooked with agar-sugar powder.
They are so tasty! We’re also very happy with the texture. Solid, but melting in the mouth.
I’ll be trying these again.
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Could you share recipe, pls? My daughter would love something like that.
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Today I ate a wonderful tiny red apple. I really regret not taking a picture of it. Maybe you can help me figure out what it is. The branch I grafted grew three tiny apples. Two of them were ruined by insects. The third was bagged and I ate it today. It’s very small, very dark deep red, more pumpkin shaped than round, and a very interesting taste that my kids and I loved. It was so small we only got small bites but the flavor was memorable and much different than any apple I’ve had. It has the flavor of another fruit I’ve had but can’t put my finger on what that flavor is.
Any ideas? Small, flat size, deep dark red, white firm flesh, with a totally distinct flavor of another fruit.
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sweet 16?
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Yes, I bet that’s it! I remember grafting it a few years back.
I need to grow more of those.
EDIT
I was just reading about Sweet 16 and saw it had frostbite in it’s parentage. And I believe the apple I ate is actually Frostbite instead of Sweet 16. I think I have sweet 16 grafted on another tree. And Frostbite also fits the description a little better due to its tiny size.
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i have several of that grafted and frostbite thats one of sweet 16 parents. hopefully they fruit next summer. both have unusual flavor profiles for a apple.
Chicago Hardy… only one I have so far.
3yr old… looks like we will get close to 300 figs this year. Very good figs too.
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Frostbite is as big or bigger than ANY of the REDLOVE varieties.
The Frostbite I had …size of tennis ball almost. The tree died…a Geneva root…and I have the tree again and it should bloom next year.
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I was thinking that it could be Frostbite from your description. My Frostbite was a small red apple with very nice flavor (I am not good at describing flavor). I like it a lot.
My Frostbite last year.
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Isn’t that what they use in the lychee jellies at the Asian markets?
I like those and I like raspberries. I’d like to try it.
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I’m absolutely thrilled about a first ever peach from my own tree today - a Rio Oso Gem. Sorry, no pics, I guess I was too greedy in all the excitement. There are a handful more still on the tree, and they actually look good despite having been marred with patches from what I’m thinking was a bout of powdery mildew early in the spring. It seems after they picked up color while ripening the discoloration from PM either disappeared or is just not noticeable. I was worried maybe they’d rot, but no. Also, I can’t believe I’m having fruit from a tree plated just the previous spring!
And after long deliberations about how to tell if it’s ripe I decided to harvest the first watermelon. Also a first ever event - I tried growing watermelons before but they never seemed to like me or my garden so I never got to the point of picking anything. Yes, it’s ripe, and it’s yummy. But I think I’ll dare now to let the other one sit for a couple days after the tendril dries up. The fruit is oblong, here it is after cutting the tip off for sampling. It’s red seeded, that’s why the seeds look pale.
A very happy day of “firsts” indeed.
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I may have gotten the scionwood from you 
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I am glad you like this variety.
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And @murky
This is what I did, cobbled together from a few sources, and using up a few things from the fridge. I dumped a couple of cups of berries into a pot. Added around a 1/4 cup of water, a splash of Bols raspberry liquor, a tsp of sour cherry vinegar and maybe a cup of sugar. ( and about a tbsp of a black raspberry/ haskap sauce I had in the fridge. Mainly for colour)
Cooked to just a boil them used a masher to crush the berries and then let it simmer for 5 mins and then turned off the burner and left it to cool a bit.
Once it was cooler, I strained it through a fairly fine small plastic strainer. Pressing lots to get all the good stuff. (This is why some seeds made it through)
I ended up with 2 cups of cooked, strained sauce.
It was dumped back in the pot and I added 1 and 3/4 tsp of the agar-agar powder. (Thai brand, from our local Asian grocery)
It was whisked in and left to sit for 5 mins before the sauce was heated back to just boiling. I cooked it for 5 mins at a low boil, while whisking and poured into a parchment paper lined 9x9 pan. It set within a half hour. I’m not sure how important the whisking and pre-boil wait times were, but it worked.
As I understand it, if the vinegar was not in it, it would be firmer.
There is no apparent flavour or dilution from the agar and it is vegan/vegetarian. Only downside is that I can’t roll them in sugar and the outsides are staying a bit damp but they are fine in the fridge and won’t last long enough that storage is an issue.
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Why can’t you roll them in sugar? They would last longer.
Mine are super sweet this year, and taste better than last year. Seem to have more tartness to go with the sugar, and I need to measure, but won’t be surprised if they are 30 brix.
They ripen later than the green gages. There are still a few green gages holding on, but the ones that are ripening late, don’t taste as good as in the main window. The last couple days I’ve been surprised that the mirabelles taste better than the gages.
Somewhere between 10 and 25% of mine have a worm or other something going on, so even though they are cherry sized, and free stone - so would be good to pop in the mouth- I end up cutting them open, or at least biting them open and inspect. If it is brown around he pit, I toss it.
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