Fruit Tree of Yesterday: Suriname Cherry
7
At the request of @chienfou, here’s a post on these… imposters. Everything you like about a temperate cherry, these guys do worse. Beautiful blooms of flowers? Nope. Great flavor that’s a perfect mix of sweet and tart? Nope. They taste kind of meh, kind of sweet but with the taste of a hot pepper mixed in (but without the burning sensation of a hot pepper). Not my favorite fruit, and definitely not worthy to be called a cherry, but it’s not durian, either.
They grow and fruit very well in Florida (zone 9b+) without any help–so well that they’re considered an invasive species in South Florida. If you want fruit but don’t want to tend a plant, this makes a good choice (though I’d still recommend a mango or carambola tree above this one).
- 2 comments, 6 replies
- Comment
It’s pretty…
@Kyeh Yeah, at least the fruits look as pretty as cherries. I know why it’s called a cherry, but I wish it wasn’t so that people wouldn’t get their hopes up.
When people ask if they can grow cherries in Florida, this is recommended. Then it tastes nothing like a cherry and people are disappointed and think they can’t grow any good fruits in Florida… But this month has shown us that’s not true. If anything, more good fruits can be grown in Florida than any other state (except Hawaii and the territories, which I’m jealous of).
@Kyeh @Weboh yep. I went looking for cherries and this and the Barbados cherry came up. At least the Barbados cherry is better? Still not the kind of cherry I wanted.
@Weboh Oh, I’m convinced - I’ve always thought the most heavenly foods are seafood and tropical fruit, so I definitely need to visit Florida someday when it’s safe to travel again. I’ll skip these "cherries " though.
What exactly is the growing season of most of the fruits you’ve talked about? I’m assuming it’s spring and summer months?
@Star2236 In Florida, the rainy season is June-December, so that’s when most plants grow quickly. Plants can grow throughout the year, though, since we don’t really get winter.
Every plant has its own harvest season, though. In Florida, if you have a variety of fruit trees, you can always have something in season. In my neighborhood, I have loquat season in May, lychee season in June, Mango season June-August, carambola season August-February, pumelo/orange season November-April, and Key Lime/calamondin season year-round.
@Weboh
Do people frown upon picking fruit from their trees or is it ok? I would really like to try the loquats and lychees.
@Star2236 If you pick without permission they’d probably get mad, but every person I’ve asked has been fine with it. Most of them don’t even eat the fruit themselves anyway (previous owners planted the trees).