Sampler of Rare Fruits for Fun or Profit Part IV

Author: Barbara Adams

Here is a sampler of unusual fruits showing up on temperate climate farms and in nurseries. Their rarity in your location, of course, depends on your growing region.

Pomegranate  (Punica)

The Pomegranate can be grown as an arching shrub or small tree. Although mostly adapted to desert climates, needing good drainage and hot summers to produce a crop of fruit, some growers sell them as potted porch plants to bring indoors to finish ripening. They thrive in USDA zones 4—10 but in cooler climates are brought inside to obtain the large ripened red fruits, which are juiced or eaten fresh in a very special manner. The seeds within each fruit are covered with sacks that are juicy, red and sweet, which are eaten and then the seeds are discarded. The trees are self- and insect-pollinated and are harvested usually starting early October. The cool fall nights help develop the bright color. The trees are thorny, and mature trees are reported to yield more than 15 tons of fruit per acre.


Paw Paws (Asimina triloba)

Paw paw varieties can grow as small tree to 10' tall, with some native varieties reaching 40 feet or more. Their leaves are long and tropical looking. Native in much of the eastern United States, they are not well known in other parts of the country, although they grow and produce well in most of the nation, USDA zones 5--9, including the Pacific Northwest. The fruits are three to six inches long, oblong, and the pulp is described as tasting like vanilla custard. They are harvest when fruit color turns from green to yellow, and the soft fruit is most often eaten with a spoon, with the large seeds discarded. They grow naturally as an understory tree but can also grow in full sun, making them a possible secondary tree crop among other tree crops. In areas of much hot dry sun, the younger trees do better with partial shade. Fruits are harvested usually in late September and October.


Mayhaw (Crataegus aestivalis)

The Mayhaw, from the hawthorn family, is native to the United States and grows in USDA zones 6—9. Certain varieties of the mayhaw produce heavy crops of small red fruits, about ½" in diameter, that make delicious jelly, pies and juice. Growing only about 15 feet tall, they can tolerate wetter soils that other fruit trees, making them a possible sideline crop for marginal growing areas, although areas of late spring frosts can cut production because the tree blooms very early in spring.





source : hydroponicsearch