North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Lon J. Rombough" <lonrom@hevanet.com>]

Title: Re: [NAFEX] sorbus fruit

I have the large fruited Sorbus domestica, which has extremely sour, astringent fruit (they make green persimmons taste mild by comparison) until they are bletted.  Then they are pleasant to eat.  Hm.  I haven't looked at the tree since the freeze.  Might be some out there now.
-Lon Rombough
> From: "Mark Lee" <markl@nytec.com>
> Reply-To: nafex@lists.ibiblio.org
> Date: Fri, 8 Nov 2002 08:38:46 -0800
> To: <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
> Subject: [NAFEX] sorbus fruit

> I went exploring at the arboretum in town this week.  I have been waiting
> for the first freeze so I could go sample some fruit that I have been
> reading about.  The common mountain ash, a Sorbus species, is considered by
> some to be a weed in Seattle.  The fruit is so sour and astringent that I
> classify it as a "spitter", one taste and you can't keep it in your mouth.
> The Washington Arboretum has one of the largest collection of Sorbus, and
> this provided me with a chance compare fruit quality of a number of species.
> Here is a description of two that stood out.  A word of caution...   Like
> apples, the seeds of Sorbus probably contain hydrogen cyanide, so the ususal
> precautions should be taken (ie don't make meals out of nothing but seeds).
>
> Sorbus devoniensis (Fontainbleu Service Tree, French Hales, Sorb Apple)  Two
> colors of fruit were hanging on this tree, orange and brown with white
> speckles.  The orange ones were mealy and tasteless.  The brown ones were
> fully ripe and "bletted".  These had the flavor, sweetness and texture of
> dates.  In England these are collected and fermented into an alchoholic
> drink.
>
> Sorbus pallescens  (no common name) Native to China.  The tree was young and
> fruit was sparse.  But of the few I sampled, the flavor was good.  It was
> sweet and tart with the flavor and texture of apricots.
>
> Both of these trees will have a future in my edible landscape.
>
> -Mark Lee, Seattle z7
>
> _______________________________________________
> nafex mailing list
> nafex@lists.ibiblio.org
> Most questions can be answered here:
> http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/nafex
> File attachments are accepted by this list; please do not send binary files, plain text ONLY!
> Message archives are here:
> https://lists.ibiblio.org/sympa/arc/nafex
> To view your user options go to: 
> http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/options/nafex/XXXX@XXXX (where XXXX@XXXX is 
> YOUR email address)
> NAFEX web site:   http://www.nafex.org/