North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Lucky Pittman <lucky.pittman@murraystate.edu>]

I regard Kousa fruits as a curiosity to share with unsuspecting
coworkers, and a famine food, at best.
I treat them much as I would a pawpaw - though edible pulp is present in
much lesser amounts - I just 'massage' the fruit until soft, tear out the
stem end, and suck the pulp out, discarding the leathery 'skin', while
making sure I don't break a tooth on the hard little stone-like
seeds.
Some years back, in a discussion of them here or on the GW forums,
someone indicated that they experienced episodes of tachycardia(racing
heartbeat) when they ate them.  I've never experienced that
phenomenon, but I'll throw that out as a caution.


At 09:58 PM 9/3/2008, you wrote:

Kurt, 

Around here, the kousa's are considered just a decorative dogwood.  I had to mail order my Big Apple.  So far, I am not overly impressed by the size of the fruit.  It's only slightly bigger than the other more common kousa's at the local nurseries.

I do not consider the pith inside the fruit as the edible portion, for me, there is a clear jell coating around the hard seeds contained in the pith that has an excellent flavor, but very little to consume.  If there was a way of increasing that portion of the fruit, or extracting it or its flavor, then I think we would have something. I am hoping that with time the fruit size of my 5' tree will increase and after hearing about yours, I' also hoping that the pith will improve.  I guess I should ask if you are sure that flavor is coming from the pith or the seed coating in the pith?

John



--- On Wed, 9/3/08, Kurt Brubaker <kbrubaker@nc.rr.com> wrote:

From: Kurt Brubaker <kbrubaker@nc.rr.com>

Subject: [NAFEX] cornus kousa

To: nafex@lists.ibiblio.org

Date: Wednesday, September 3, 2008, 7:20 PM

Hello,

 

Does anyone grow the "big apple" variety of cornus kousa?  I am looking for suggestions on ways to use/process the fruit.

 

We put in a couple of trees in the spring of 2005 and this year they gave us a modest sampling crop (~100 fruits).  The fruits are about one and a half inches in diameter with a very tough (and somewhat bitter) exterior and soft sweet pulp.  The texture of the pulp is fairly dry and has a fair amount of grit, but is sweet enough that I am hopeful it could be processed in some way into a more tasty product.

 

The trees like they will be easily maintained at around 7-8 feet in height.  I have them at a 4 foot spacing and are filling in as a nice hedge along the deck.  They have beautiful white flowers in the late spring which last for several weeks.

 

If I can't find a good use other than fresh eating (we are currently splitting the fruit in half and scooping out the fruit with a small spoon), I will probably move them to a more marginal spot to make room for a more useful plant.

 

Thank you,

Kurt Brubaker

Durham, NC (zone 7-8)

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Lucky Pittman
USDA Cold Zone 6
AHS Heat Zone 7
Hopkinsville, KY