North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Ginda Fisher <list@ginda.us>]

I thought I'd offer an update.

I picked some fruit shortly after this post.  It never "ripened", but  
when it started to shrivel I tried eating some.  It wasn't at all  
sweet, but it wasn't bitter or astringent, either, and the flavor was  
actually pretty good.

I picked some fruit around when I tried eating that.  And I picked all  
but two of the remaining apricots yesterday.  The second batch sort of  
ripened, was also not very sweet, but was quite tasty.  I ate a lot of  
them in one sitting.  The third batch was larger than the prior two,  
they abviously hadn't finished growing when I started to pick, despite  
having almost no green on the fruit. The third batch are still a bit  
firm, are sweet, but not very sweet, and are delicious.

There are lots of pits on the ground, and I think the two I left  
yesterday are gone.  Alas, I'm obviously going to have to pick these  
under-ripe.  But they are surprisingly tasty even when under-ripe.

and I have a very happy squirrel population.  sigh. . .

Ginda


On Jul 11, 2009, at 1:03 PM, Ginda Fisher wrote:

> Rather to my surprise, my puget gold apricot is still covered with
> fruit.  (Yes, I thinned it, but there's lots.)  The fruit has turned
> golden, with a red blush.  It's still very hard.
>
> I'm sure it would be best if picked fully tree-ripened, but I doubt
> much will be left if I wait for that.  I find pits under the tree
> pretty regularly even with unripe fruit, and I'm over-run with
> chipmunks, squirrels, crows, deer, and lots of other stuff that no
> doubt would enjoy ripe apricots, too.  I'll leave some to see if I can
> get some ripe, put if I can pick some earlier, it's probably worth it.
>
> When might I start picking some?  What do you look for?
>
> Thanks,
> Ginda
> eastern MA, zone 6