Im growing a white one but its not sweet
These are good points about perception, and language, around sweetness and what it means.
Most people think of watermelon as sweet. A 10 or 12 brix watermelon is perceived as quite sweet.
1 Like
Maybe I have not had good watermelon. Watermelon tastes bland to me compared to other fruit. I would sooner have an apple, cherry, strawberry, plum, peach, nectarine, pluot, mandarin, orange or pear before I get a watermelon. Meanwhile my mother loves watermelon.
Watermelon is refreshing. Have you lived where its hot?
1 Like
I live in CO where it is hot dry summers and cold snowy winters. I work inside currently but have worked outside jobs but still have never been a fan of watermelon. I would just eat things like pancakes and pizza every day without any fruit or vegetables in high school. Once I got cancer I ate strawberry in the hospital so while I donât eat strawberry as much anymore due to the vast array of kinds of fruit but I have more affinity for things like strawberry. I get it is hydrating but would rather have water than watermelon a lot of times.
My last garden, I grew some of the sweetest Sugar Baby and Ambrosia melons. They were in raised bed, plus you withhold water closer to the ripening time.
3 Likes
Good point Jafar!
Donât get me wrong, I love a good Bing cherry as well. Iâm looking for the same things in a good Bing or a good Rainier. Sweet, acidic, and firm. Iâll admit that Rainiers soften up more easily than Bings. For me, the point that Jafar makes brings it all home. I like the âbrighterâ flavor of a Rainier slightly better than a Bing. If âbrighterâ flavor makes any sense at all⌠Still I buy and enjoy both when they are in season locally.
1 Like
I will admit I have never grown my own watermelon. I have just had store bought. That being said I have heard with both watermelon and cherries it is hard to beat store bought.
1 Like
I think fruit nut said it best when there is more of a tang or acid flavor to the red cherries than the yellow cherries. I would attribute it to a Navel orange vs a Cara Cara orange. Both are navel oranges like both are sweet cherries but different flavor profiles. I am really looking forward to when my fruits produce because many of my plants are supposed to be super sweet. I have mirabelle plums coming next spring, I have had Green Gage one season, pluots coming, I have different kinds of pears, different kind of apples, sweet pit apricots coming, donut peaches have been growing 3 years now, I have a few persimmon, I have a few mulberry, cherries etc. Many of these I have never tried but am eager to as I hear they are sugar magnets like the Green Gage and Mirabelle. I used to love the Bing and Rainier cherries. They stopped selling Bing cherries at my local Costco and just sell cherries from CA now. The Bing from the store were of consistent quality. I had a Bing but I think since I watered in the winter I overwatered it and killed it. My rainier still lives though.
1 Like
Bella Gold peacotum. They scored a 32 brix, but they have only fruited once.
6 Likes
Are there many varieties of peacotums? I collect hybrids and havent got this one, they are hard to come by here in europe.
1 Like
I think low irrigation increases BRIX.
What is your best pluot?
Yes,
Bella Royale peacotum.
Bella Gold peacotum.
The hybrids below are marketed as either aprium or Pluot but they also have peach in their parentage, according to their patent.
Geo pride Pluot.
Countrycot aprium
Bella Jewell aprium.
Escort aprium.
Bella Zee aprium.
Bella Sweet aprium.
3 Likes
Things like juiciness and lack of competing acid flavors will fool the human palate somewhat.
1 Like
Astringent Persimmons (American & Asian) are the sweetest fruits Iâve ever tasted.
1 Like
More than somewhat. My best cider apple is a spitter, the concentration of tannins and acids are such that you canât taste any sweetness at all and would be hard pressed to eat even a single bite. And yet according to the specific gravity of the juice it is the sweetest apple that I grow. The specific gravity of say sweet honey crisp juice is around 1.051. This one (Franklin cider apple) weighted in at 1.078.
2 Likes
Youâve never had dates?
Yes I have noticed the same thing with bitter apples ⌠I have sometimes been quite surprised at what the brix meter reads to the point I almost wondered if the reading was not off. My Gnarled Chapman came in around 20 brix this year for example, 1.09 SG, and tasted like about a 13 brix to me.
Lol, a ripe American Persimmon blows dates out of the waterâŚ
@scottfsmith, when is the ripening date for the Chapman? Iâm into cider apples, that one sounds like a good candidate but I canât find info on ripening times.
Wine grapes are similar, they are not exactly stellar for fresh eating but they are magical fermented right.