North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Scott Smith <scott@cs.jhu.edu>]

>
I have eaten this fruit in China and it is very good - I ate a whole  
bowl of them without stopping.  They are fairly tart, and have a  
unique texture of little "tubes" all coming from the seed which gives  
it a very satisfying bite.

I saw the recent nice CRFG article which pointed out that Sheffields  
stocks the seeds.  The tree needs lots of heat and humidity so Florida  
is about the only place in the US where is adapted.

If you don't get the CRFG article there was a shorter article in the  
NY Times also by Karp (registration but no payment required I believe):
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/12/dining/12yumb.html

Chiranjit, the "kaphal" (myrica nagi) you mention from India sounds  
potentially much better adapted for the US than the myrica rubra, but  
there don't seem to be any seeds available here.

Scott

> Yesterday I spotted a bottle containing yumberry juice at the local  
> supermarket.  Apparently this juice just became available in the US  
> last year and has now been added to some commercial products.
>
>   Also called wax myrtle, a google shows that this is Myrica rubra,  
> called Yang Mei berry in/from China.
>
>   Does anyone grow this one?  Are there sources of plants or seeds  
> in the US?  I'm not interested in growing as it would be too much of  
> a challenge here, but am curious if this is a developing crop in the  
> US and if anyone has experience with it.
>
>   Thanks
>
>   John