As you already know from our pecan hunting, and from our extensive edible wild plant guide collection if you have ever seen our bookshelf, Nathanael and I appreciate the merits of fresh, free food. So, after the friend sharing her land with us (for our garden) pointed out one of her trees as an unknown fruit tree a few months ago, I took special note of the developing fruit each week...and I had no idea what they were going to be. Finally, this weekend, when I saw some falling off the tree I decided to test for ripeness, and ended up biting into something wonderfully delicious!
Nathanael thought they might be loquats, and he turned out to be correct. This warm climate fruit was something cold-climate-me had never seen or tasted. It is a distant relative of apples (and cherries, roses, plumbs, peaches, etc.), and has a texture like a plumb or large cherry. The flavor is sweet and tart, like a nectarine with a bit of plumb or berry essence.
Inside, the fruit contains one to three smooth slippery seeds which pop out quite easily, and have a beautiful golden sheen.
Our friend's tree was sparse, but Nathanael recalled having seen a loquat tree planted on campus as an ornamental piece of landscaping, so we ventured out and discovered ripe fruit aplenty.
Nathanael was the primary harvester since he is a bit taller, and because I was eating so many loquats and taking so many pictures. But, I did collect the fruits I could reach.
I am rather enamored with this fruit.
It is certainly on my top five list.
In other foraging news, we have begun to eat the first of the blackberries.
Aren't blackberries supposed to be around in July?!
This climate continues to amaze me.
Do you ever collect from the woods or city landscaping plants?
Have you ever tried a loquat?
What new foods have you discovered lately?
I LOVE your Blog, and read it religously!
ReplyDeleteI have never had a Loquat...but something our family tries to do every year is go rasberry picking by the Bradford Bog. Yum!
The last summer we lived in ME our next door neighbor made a HUGE garden. She absoulutly loved planting and weeding and just working in the garden...but she rarely picked it. She told us that we had free reign of it...so we had free fresh vegatbles every day that summer! It was such a HUGE blessing on a very tight budget!!!
What a wonderful discovery! I've actually never heard of a loquat before. We went foraging for mushrooms the other day and were pleasantly surprised by the large amount of morels we found. A perfect way to spend the afternoon!
ReplyDeleteI have never had those, they look juicy! Jealous of the blackberries by the way, they are enormous! Last fall we propagated an old stump in the yard with Lion's Mane Mushroom spores, I am hopefully awaiting our first crop.
ReplyDeleteI have never heard of a loquat before, but they look tasty. As do your blackberries!
ReplyDeleteI don't think I've ever seen or tasted one of these either. I haven't gone foraging for plants or fruits since I was little. I have vague memories of looking for pecans and mushrooms, and taking apples or berries when I was a kid.
ReplyDeleteI have never even heard of the fruit, but must try it out now. Looks yummy.
ReplyDeleteWhat wonderful pictures on a fascinating topic! You should try starting some of the loquat seeds--or send some to me and I'll start them for a house plant. :-)
ReplyDeleteI have never seen these, but they look really yummy! Love the picture of you :)
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