Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

nafex - [NAFEX] Re: hastening figs, grafting che, pawpaw skins

nafex@lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: "Moyer, Richard" <ramoyer@king.edu>
  • To: "'nafex@lists.ibiblio.org'" <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [NAFEX] Re: hastening figs, grafting che, pawpaw skins
  • Date: Tue, 20 Aug 2002 18:01:13 -0400

Sorry for the bulk reply, but have been away and can't resist jumping in
now:
1) Ripening figs ('hastening the figs'). We oil them, an old world method.
Put a dab of olive oil on the eye of each fig with a straw or Q-tip; this
traps in the natural ethylene and hastens ripening up to several weeks. Ray
Given (see link at nafex.org) has noted which figs respond best to this
method. My seven year old enjoys this job.
2) Our Moulin de Legumes food mill (made in France) has multiple screens for
different size seeds. Superior design to Foley in our comparisons. We also
use the steamer that Hector mentioned for juice extraction, such as
Chaenomeles quince. Each tool has its place.
3) Did a lengthy post several years ago on Che. In short, our 'male'
reverted to a female and now we have two "seedless females". (Mulberry can
also do such a sex change with age; both plants are in Moraceae family.) For
us, Che grafts easily onto Osage Orange, though the milky sap may need to be
blotted initially before joining scion and rootstock. Anyone producing
osage orange rootstock by seed or root cuttings?
4) Was also at pawpaw conference where the potato ricer was mentioned for
pulp extraction. One can squeeze most of the flesh and seeds out while
hanging onto pawpaw skin. Chris Chmiel throws whole fruit into an extractor
and gets pulp for freezing, which he ships nationwide. As for eating some
pawpaw skin, locals here eat pawpaw like a peach and live to tell about it,
though we southerners are sometimes slow! Paracelsus noted in the 1400s
that "the dose makes the poison". Asimicin levels plummet in ripening
pawpaw, otherwise the pawpaw trees would be poisoning their mammalian seed
dispersers. A bit of skin won't do you in.




Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page