mrAru is wondering what this fruit is he used to eat when he was younger:
size: aprox that of a large apricot
color: a medium orange between that of an apricot and a peach without the red shading
skin: smooth like a nectarine
shape: similar to a peach or nectarine, globular a slight cleft like a peach, but no little point at the bottom
flesh: uniform orange throughout, between 1 half and 3 quarters of an inch thick, moderately juicy but not as extreme as some peaches can get, medium sweet
seed: in center, 3 large seeds in a bundle, dark brown/black, smooth more like a freestone than a clingstone.
Tree: deciduous, leaves were between 4 and 6 inches in length, the oval sort of leaves like a magnolia, deep glossy green.
I am leaning towards something that would normally be ornamenta, and perhaps oriental in origin [Fresno CA had a large oriental immigrant population and the tree was fairly old/mature back in teh 60s and 70s.]
mmmmmmm, loquats. I am constantly amazed at the myriad of people here in Oakland who have enormous trees covered with fruit, yet don’t appear to eat them.
My fantasy is to someday make friends with one of them, so I can try making loquat jam.
It depends where they’re grown - they will tolerate a little frost and when grown in places with colder winters, they will be deciduous. they’re much less likely to fruit under such conditions though, as they flower in late autumn and the fruit develops through the winter, ripening in spring.
When I visited Cyprus a few years back, I was offered slabs of a confection made from loquats - it was a lot thicker and dryer than jam (although not as dry as fruit leather) - probably quite similar to Spanish membrillo -which is made from quinces and is usually consumed as a relish with cheeses.
In my childhood home we had a big loquat tree. Picking and eating fresh was great, but my mother would bottle them when eating off the tree did not keep up with production. It was a bit of work peeling and deseeding, but the fruit and syrup were wonderful - cold with Wheetbix for breakfast, or in a hot fruit crumble with custard. I’m hungry now.
We did much the same with all the feijoa - feijoa and apple crumble is yum.
The ones around here never lose their leaves. The beauty of loquats are that they are impossible to kill, and will always grow fruit. Hell, even I had one in the Sahara Desert I call my backyard and it was thriving until I landscaped and dug it out.
