A tasting of ten white sapote cultivars

 These white sapote fruits were collected from a friend’s orchard on November 6 and tasted on November 7, 2021.

Top rows on both pictures, left to right: 4H4, Fournoy, Lemon Gold, Walton, Santa Cruz.

Bottom row on both pictures, left to right: Malibu #3, Suebelle, Fiesta, 3C2, Rainbow.

4H4 - excellent and complex flavor, very sweet, caramel flavored with a hint of acidity. The skin is very thin but bitter.

Fournoy - pretty good, sweet, soft fleshed, thin skinned. The skin is not bitter.

Lemon Gold - very nice, creamy, caramel flavored, no lemon flavor in this fruit and the skin is not bitter.

Walton - excellent and intense flavored, sweet, custardy, baked milk flavored, the skin is not bitter.

Santa Cruz - the flesh is very soft and melting, sweet and creamy. The skin is very thin but bitter.

Malibu #3 - intense flavor, very sweet and creamy, the skin is not bitter. Very good to excellent fruit.

Suebelle - the flavor is just ok with some funky note in it. The skin is not bitter. 

Fiesta - not particularly sweet, but soft and melting flesh. The skin is bitter. Just an ok fruit for this sample.

3C2 - the flavor is intense and sweet but also has some bitterness in it. The flesh structure is firm and very creamy. The skin is bitter.

Rainbow - excellent flavor, the flesh is firm, very sweet, caramel flavored. The skin is not bitter.

My picks from this tasting are 4H4, Walton, Malibu #3, and Rainbow. 

I suspect that Santa Cruz should be very good too, but the fruits sampled here were overripe and affected by mealybugs. The Fiesta fruit was probably underripe in this sample.

The scions of white sapote cultivars are usually available during the late winter - early spring sale at reallygoodplants.com

Early White Sapote cultivars

 This year, my earliest fruiting cultivar was Redland, I picked two fruits on October 4. I greatly disliked Redland fruits.  They have some very unpleasant medicinal flavor.  I tasted the same flavor in the fruits collected from a friend's tree a couple of weeks later.

On October 30, I harvested a few fruits of Delta Gold (earlier known as Harvey B3, picture below).  These turned out to be excellent fruits. They have a very pleasant intense creamy caramel flavor with thick, but not bitter skin.

On November 4 and 5, I harvested more of Delta Gold and four additional cultivars, see the pictures and descriptions below. These five cultivars are all good to excellent and definitely worth growing. I don't want to give exact scores as these would be based on a few fruits from single trees or grafts. 

Vernon 

The skin is not significant and can be consumed, but I still peel it. Very creamy caramel/milk flavored. 

Lemon Gold
The skin is bitter. More intense than Vernon. Sweet caramel with a hint of lemon.

False Suebelle 
The skin is not bitter. Very soft sweet melting flesh with a hint of acidity.

Delta Gold

The skin is very thick, but not bitter. The flavor is excellent, It is creamy, custardy, caramel flavored, very sweet.

Cuccio

The skin is not bitter, The flavor is pretty intense, sweet creamy caramel. 

The scions of white sapote are usually available during our late winter- early spring sale at reallygoodplants.com

Gilroy Mall feijoas

 Back in December of 2016, I tasted feijoa fruits from the plants at Gilroy Mall. A couple of bushes were still abundantly producing tasty fruits. 

Two photos below are from December 10, 2016,

I collected the scions from these in the following spring, grafted onto seedlings and planted them in ground in Vacaville. I named them Gilroy Corner and Gilroy End. These year I have fruits on both plants and they just started dropping the fruits on October 30.

The tasting is from October 31, 2021.

Gilroy End - very juicy, sweet and nicely flavored with a little acidity. Insignificant grit. Very good fruit overall.

Gilroy Corner - does not seem to be ready yet, but it seems to have good potential. I will retaste it later in the season.

Feijoa tasting on October 23, 2021

Candy - Juicy, little grit, good balance of very sweet and some sour, very good fruit.

White Goose - Mostly smooth, little grit, melting flesh, sweet with little acidity, good fruit.

Lickver's Pride - Very sweet, lots of aromatics, very little acidity, little grit, very good fruit.

Den's Choice - Very sweet, lots of aromatics, very smooth, no grit, excellent fruit.

Marion - Very sweet, aromatic, smooth, excellent fruit.

Marjane - Extremely sweet with some acidity, aromatic and smooth, excellent fruit.

Tagan II - Sweet-sour, aromatic, smooth and creamy, very good fruit.

Edenvale Late - Sweet-sour, some grit, good fruit, needs more time.

The grafting material is occasionally available at reallygoodplants.com

Feijoa tasting on October 17, 2021

Albert's Pride - Very nice flavor, little grit, dense flesh
Flavia - Good flavor, low acid, gritty, soft flesh
8 Ball - Juice, good flavor, some grit, may need more time on the tree
Triumph - Low acid, dense flesh, gritty
Apollo - Lots of jelly, sweet, low acid, juicy, low grit, nice flavor
Abbadabba - Not fully ready, low flavor, low sugar, low acid, high grit

Den's Choice - Excellent flavor, sweet, lots of jelly, juicy, no grit
White Goose - Very good, sweet-sour, soft flesh, no grit
Edenvale Late - Excellent flavor, sweet-sour, gritty, may need more time to ripen
Chesterwoody - Very sweet, dense flesh, no grit, overripe by now (this is my earliest cultivar)
Tagan II - Excellent flavor, sweet-sour, creamy flesh with little grit

The grafting material is occasionally available at reallygoodplants.com

Den's Choice Feijoa

 Den's Choice feijoa just started dropping fruits this year on October 15. This is one of the best mid season cultivars. The flesh is smooth, lots of jelly, sweet with some acidity and very pleasant flavor.

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

Purple guava makes excellent tea

 Purple guava, Psidium myrtoides makes small purple fruits with large seeds and low sugar content. I almost removed the tree as I didn't particulary liked fresh fruits. They taste very healthy and have a high amount of flavonoids, but not enjoyable to eat. 

The fruits are usually formed in small clusters.

Before digging the tree out, I decided to make a tea out of the fruits, and this saved the tree. The tea flavor reminded me the black currant fruit flavor. They should share similar compounds responsible for this flavor. Purple guava is definitely worth growing for making drinks.