Che fruit or Mandarin melon berry cultivar Oregon Exotics

I grow a couple of these, a male and a female. They go under the cultivar name Oregon Exotics, as they were originally distributed by the nursery with this name. The female produces very large sweet fruit that ripen in November. I made both trees in 2017 by grafting the scions onto Osage orange rootstocks. The female started to produce in 2018, and this year (2020) I have a pretty good crop.

The fruits are up to 2 inches and very juicy. Che fruit is very unusual in the fruit world, as it has a very low acidity with the pH of 6.5.

This fruit contained 21 small seeds. They are relatively soft and don’t bother me. 

Che fruits should be consumed when fully ripe, like figs. Before that they will bleed milky sap and will not be really edible. When fully ripe, they are extremely sweet. 

Right now we are also at the end of the Kei Apple ripening season. I happened to have a bit of Kei Apple juice in the fridge. Kei Apple makes a very bright yellow juice on the acidic side. After juicing Che fruits, I got the bright red sweet juice. They combine into a nice drink with good balance of sweet and sour.

Check our sales site if we have the scions available reallygoodplants.com