epic fruit: the pluot

hybrid plum and apricot. i am loving these so much these days.

show your love, ILX.

prefer 'apricum'

there's a new breed of tomato they're pushing here called the...

ahem

KUMATO

again, 'tomquat' is not only better but sounds like 'tomcat' ie a fighter jet ergo awesome

the pluot is really really good & there's a snack you can buy in aiports called "bare fruit" or something that has a DRIED pluot in it and oh wow it very very nice.

like all fruit you gotta eat these babies at the precise right moment. too underripe and they just taste like plums but when they hit that sweet spot LOOK OUT LADIES

These plum nectarine plumtarine hybrids are excellent!

look at that

Pluots C/D

like all fruit you gotta eat these babies at the precise right moment.

I have gone on about this before but this is my chief lifelong frustration with fruit

Some people are better than others about dealing with fruit that's not "at the precise right moment," and I respect those people, but am not usually among them, and get some of the same feelings about biting into a peach that you might get before, say, jumping off a bluff into the ocean

Did you happen to read Eliot at a particularly young and impressionable age?

I have to amend my plumtarine enthusiasm to say that i just had one that tasted just like a pluot. nothing wrong with that but dammit it was like it was ashamed of its nectarine ancestors.

there was a thread where we talked about that! maybe it was on ILB. I mean Eliot really nailed the riskiest fruit on that one

Sometimes I wonder if peaches are never good, and it's all a false unreliable memory that I've ever bitten into a satisfactory one

Never too many pluot threads.

I've only had 'em from the farmers market and I love 'em.

peach ripeness window not as short as it's bein made out to be here tbqf

the pluots i've been partying this week have this gorgeous two-tone flesh... like a millimeter or two of magenta-redness just under the skin and then creamy vanilla off-white all the way to the stone

when I make a pluot chutney it's going to be a great day

it will be

deez chuts

epic fruit more like epic fail

why do I post

you've really lost the pluot

there's an amazing variety of pluots available out here in california now. i tend to favor the green/yellow varieties but they're all really tasty

yeah, i had one of these for the first time out here, mmmm

like all fruit you gotta eat these babies at the precise right moment.

Actually, I find that whereas plums develop a very unpleasant fermented taste once they're over-ripe, pluots just become incredibly, incredibly soft, but just as sweet and tasty as they were at their peak.

yeah pluots are plums minus terribleness of plums. i move we replace all plums with pluots!

Is this the TS Eliot reading thread?

pic so us normals kno wht yous weirdos are tlking about
http://blog.winemag.com/editors/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/plum_pluot_z.jpg

^^^ that variety esp tasty right now

Varieties pluots
Approximately 20 varieties of pluots have been developed and bred by Zaiger Genetics. Each variety contains a different percentage of plum and apricot parentage. These varieties vary in size, skin color, and flesh color. The skin can be solid, striped, or speckled and skin colors range from yellow-green to black. Pluot flesh ranges from white to red in color.

There is only one variety of aprium currently on the market. The Honey Rich interspecific is bright orange and has bright orange flesh.

Pluot varieties include:
Candy Stripe: medium, pink-yellow striped, with very sweet and juicy flesh.
Cherry: small, bright red skin with white flesh.
Dapple Dandy: large sweet with pale green to yellow, red-spotted skin, red or pink juicy flesh.
Flavorella: round, medium-sized, golden-yellow, with sweet and juicy flesh.
Flavor Heart: very large, black with a heart shape, and yellow flesh.
Flavor King: very sweet, medium or large, with red-purple skin and red flesh.
Flavorosa: very sweet or tart, medium-sized, flat round dark-purple fruit with red flesh.
Flavor Prince: large round and purple, with red flesh
Flavor Rich: medium-sweet, large black round fruit with orange flesh.
Flavor Supreme: medium or large, greenish purple skin, juicy red flesh.
Flavor Queen: large light-green to yellow, very juicy
Red Ray: medium, bright red with dense, sweet orange flesh.

xp Yep, have one of those on my desk right now waiting for me to sink my teeth into it.

http://www.ilovetiny.com/images/FlavorGrenade200px.jpg
http://www.ilovetiny.com/images/Flavorqueen200px.jpg
http://www.ilovetiny.com/images/Dappledandy200px.jpg
http://www.ilovetiny.com/images/FlavorSupreme200px.jpg

pluots are yummy but people talking about "the terribleness of plums" are the most disgusting savages imo

the thing about plums that i dislike is the texture. the crispness of pluots is what makes it superior imo. of course, i was perfectly happy with plums before i ever had a pluot, so i have obv been brainwashed by the evil geniuses of Zaiger Genetics

I know satsumas will always be my jam, but can you get these things in the UK?

eat the bitter, mushy purple turds that passes as fruit from our plum tree for a few years and then you will know the terribleness of plums.

thanks for the screen name velks

philip you'll understand if I pass on that offer right? no hard feelings

but that's not representative of the whole of plumdom! xp

http://www.slate.com/id/2225665/

pluots are running things in 09

To tell the truth, I can't distinguish between a pluot and a really good plum, but I get the sense that there's more quality control on pluots. Like they went to all that trouble to show how awesome a pluot is, and if they can't show how much better it is than plain old plums, who would pay the premium?

Pluots are seemingly always delicious, whereas plums are only good within a very short window.

finally got into pluots

the illest of all fruits

epic am i right

want to read

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41E4wUJUJFL._SL500_AA240_.jpg

i've been wanting to read
http://calorielab.com/news/wp-images/post-images/fruit-hunters.jpg

my friend wrote that.

it's really good and you should read it.

oh yeah? cool. i was googling for miracle fruit a while ago and happened upon an interview he gave while promoting the book.

yea i was reading abt that just the other day - it's getting turned into a movie now?

it certainly is! msg me and i can say more.

late in the season but emerald pluots are epic atm

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_oy8XOJ7Zq-k/SrEl8cQTEKI/AAAAAAAABPk/YuovB0NZEa4/s320/pluots.jpg

those look like papples

To tell the truth, I can't distinguish between a pluot and a really good plum, but I get the sense that there's more quality control on pluots. Like they went to all that trouble to show how awesome a pluot is, and if they can't show how much better it is than plain old plums, who would pay the premium?

― Philip Nunez, Wednesday, August 19, 2009 2:25 PM (8 months ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

been eating some stone-cold righteous plums lately and thinkin about this

"The terribleness of plums" is tickling me for some reason.

epic fruit

has s1ocki been gone or have I just not read the right threads

just ate an aprium fyi
not nearly as awesome as pluots but they'll do until the most epic fruit arrives

floyd zaiger is my God
http://latimes.image2.trb.com/lanews/media/photo/2009-08/48766794.jpg

zaiger is an interesting guy. just about to start reading book about him.

jay u ever read that

on my 4th pluot of the day

i think its the tangy skin that really makes it

My gf is obsessed with apriums.

I always assumed that the pluot was just a Western name for this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ume but now I'm starting to wonder if it's something entirely different?

i'm reading that "the perfect fruit" book i mentioned upthread. it's not so good.

and yes shastanator it is. it is a new hybrid. 3/4 plum, 1/4 apricot.

the pluots at my local joint are more plumblike than the ones last year, which more closely resembled nectarines. I liked those ones better, but I'll take what I can get - I've been on about four a day myself. Generally speaking, they may be the finest specimen in all the history of fruit-hybridization.

i think its the tangy skin that really makes it - this could very well be true.

and yes shastanator it is. it is a new hybrid. 3/4 plum, 1/4 apricot.

― delanie griffith (s1ocki), Wednesday, June 16, 2010 7:58 PM (27 minutes ago)

i guess that's where i'm not really seeing the difference. the mei(chinese)/ume(japanese) has no english translation, but the closest description is "a cross between plum and apricot".

wiki says the chinese have almost 300 varieties (including hybrids) of mei that they have been documented for over 1600 years (Jin Dynasty). now maybe the chinese were slow to "tradename" their specific cross-brids with a nifty name like pluot but honestly, i've had my share of pluots and umes and i don't think there's a big diff as far as i can see/taste.

sometimes theres not a big difference between stuff thats being sold as pluots and stuff thats being sold as plums!

The early season pluots out now, the "flavorosa" I believe, are very plum-like in taste and appearance. I prefer the later varieties, much sweeter.

i just like whatevers juicy and sweet with a tart skin--a rose by any other name am i right

the worst are the mealy flavorless plum/pluot/whatevers

Bad plums are offensively bland

wiki says the chinese have almost 300 varieties (including hybrids) of mei that they have been documented for over 1600 years (Jin Dynasty). now maybe the chinese were slow to "tradename" their specific cross-brids with a nifty name like pluot but honestly, i've had my share of pluots and umes and i don't think there's a big diff as far as i can see/taste.

― _▂▅▇█▓▒░◕‿‿◕░▒▓█▇▅▂_ (Steve Shasta), Wednesday, June 16, 2010 11:42 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark

well the pluot as it is sold now is something that was originally grown by zaiger genetics, who apparently spent like 20 years crossbreeding plums and apricots until they came up with a few perfect varieties.

as i understand it the ume is its own thing, related to the apricot, maybe conceived in a similar way, but they are not the same specific varieties that are sold as pluots here.

all mass-produced varieties of fruit were bred and "trade-named" by somebody...

still don't think I've had a very good pluot, where is the kiwi thread because I've been having some awesome kiwis

kiwis are underrated imo

right now I would go gold kiwis >>> organic green kiwi >>>>>>>>>>>>> regular kiwi

haven't tried organic gold kiwis yet

START YOUR OWN THREAD

the pluot thickens

yum

Mr Veg calls them "Plapricots" :D
I love them. Tangy and magically delicious!

How many pluots does it take for anyone on ILX to take you seriously?

well the pluot as it is sold now is something that was originally grown by zaiger genetics, who apparently spent like 20 years crossbreeding plums and apricots until they came up with a few perfect varieties.

― delanie griffith (s1ocki), Wednesday, June 16, 2010 9:04 PM (1 hour ago)

wow it took 20 years for them to come up with "3/4 plum, 1/4 apricot"? huh...

bet you could teach those morons a thing or two!!!

hells yeah, give me another 20 years and we may see even more complex hybrids such as "2/3 plum, 1/3 apricot". science is ~amazing~.

do you think they were just getting stoned and playing nintendo and then at like year 19 they were like oh shit

seriously tho, creating a new & viable cultivar takes a shitload of time and a billion trials and errors, it's not just like, hey let's take 75% plum and 25% apricot and you can do it before lunch

yeah i know, im just teasin u. *giggles*

yah it looks like it took the chinese 1600 years!!!

chinese always be claiming...

i want one pluot

judging by Flavor King, Flavor Queen, Flavor Prince, Flavor Supreme, Flavor Royal, and especially Flavor Grenade I'm thinking getting stoned prob had something to do with the perfection of pluots

epic haul today of flavor kings & queens

My local produce mart hasn't stocked any pluots this summer. :(

the ones mine has have not been that great :(

http://www.ramonamuseum.org/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/lovecalif.jpg

my local has had amazing pluots all summer

i had a hard time finding good ones in nyc!

there seems to be a lot more mutant-y big ones this year, mega dinosaur egg kinds, that are less flavourful...

SHOULDA COME TO MY BARBECUE BRO

;_;

The Peach is the only fruit.

no, there are lots of fruits

apples, bananas, oranges, kiwis

there are more than that even

technically tomatoes are a fruit

so thats at least five

im sure someone else can think of more

Dinosaur eggs, you say? I discovered these last month:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3002/2485829115_595f987492.jpg

The salak or snake fruit of Indones

those smell like smelly feet

pluots have been a little disappointing this year, maybe the unusually cool spring/summer in CA is the reason?

emerald plums are super-epic atm tho

http://blogs.laweekly.com/squidink/emerald%20beaut%20plums.jpg

they have definitely been disappointing

first year on pluots, so what do i know, but have you tried Flavor Grenade pluots?

yeah, those are ok

I know satsumas will always be my jam, but can you get these things in the UK?

― caek, Friday, 31 July 2009 18:15 (1 year ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

selling these at supermarkets at the moment, which doesnt seem v seasonal

pluots, plumcots, apriums today

if you see "flavorella" plumcots you should buy them, epic atm

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1048/528970692_54e1655091.jpg

When Apricot Met Plum...
In the Search for Perfect Fruit, Breeders Create Odd, New Hybrids.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904900904576552543026705926.html?mod=djemITP_h

peaches at my neighborhood grocer have been so phenomenally great (and cheap!) this year that I completely overlooked my beloved pluot :/

I recently got into a beef at work regarding my preference for nectarines over peaches :(

nectarines are better imo

YES but apparently this is mega challops?

at least in california, i think the nectarine varieties are better on average although my only real beef with peaches is perishability (although nectarines are supposed to be even more fragile, but that is not my experience)

what's your preference - white or yellow?

peaches have been killing it this year! i think white probably? white seem to be more consistently amazing

would definitely eat a pluerry btw

yeah, i feel white are pretty consistent with amazing sweetnes and especially the fragrance. but when yellow are great, they are the best.

gotta say i cant fathom preferring nectarines to peaches

acidity is your friend

also, move to california ; )

i really like acidity! sour apples are my favourite, i think that i might have just never had the perfect nectarine. im in london + our stuff comes from spain/italy/france, im sure that transport cant be good for them. is the season pretty much over now? never saw any pluots over here :(

nectarines are still happening here for a few more weeks, feel like the true peak is july for the really good varieties. the amount & variety of pluots, and length of season, is kinda ridic. iirc some late summer early autumn pluots are kinda secretly the best, but i have a hrd time remembering the names (most of which are cutesy/dumb anyway "dapple dandy" et al)

also sept/oct is usually hotter than june/july over here, making trad concept of "season" somewhat unreliable.

I like yellow nectarines! And if I had to choose between yellow and white peaches, I would probably choose yellow, even though the whites are nice for variety.

The white nectarines I've experienced have been kinda meh compared to the yellows, and more expensive to boot.

i was getting a lot of these this year + they were pretty amazing, def worth keeping an eye out for

lol just re-reading this thread + we're talking abt that book 'the fruit hunters' and i said to slocki that it was being turned into a film.... little did i know that he was writing the script

i've made a couple little video-behind-the-scenes glimpses of the fruit hunters

https://vimeo.com/38203030

brief but epic

epic

https://vimeo.com/38378531

flavorosa pluots purchased today : )

emerald plums are super-epic atm tho

― buzza, Thursday, September 16, 2010

this is happening soon ppl

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqhhGGMXpms&feature=share

i continue to love that bill pullman is in this

i want to eat all these weird fruits

I bought a pineapple guava at the farmers market this weekend. I have absolutely no idea what the fuck its supposed to be.

really stoked for this film-- it combines a lot of my favorite things-- fresh fruit, original tiki music, documentary film-making, s1ocki...

:D

gr8080 otm

forgot to mention: Hawaii, obv

gr80 have you ever had ice cream bean?

have never had breadfruit but have very fond memories of reading an abridged version of robinson crusoe as a kid and marveling at the depiction of breadfruit therein

ice cream bean rules

have never had ice cream beans-- need to link up w/ s1ocki's bro on big island!!

i have had breadfruit soup at a restaurant here and it was delicious.

was considering a breadfruit tattoo based on this vintage hawaiian design:

http://i.imgur.com/9kUhT.jpg

u should

it combines a lot of my favorite things-- fresh fruit, original tiki music, documentary film-making, s1ocki...

― ❏❐❑❒ (gr8080)

otm

bought a pineapple guava at the farmers market this weekend. I have absolutely no idea what the fuck its supposed to be.

― johnathan lee riche$ (mayor jingleberries

Pineapple guava are not a hybrid, just a name given based on their taste. Called feijoa in Spanish. The bush is very drought tolerant so I planted a few in my yard, and while they grow just fine, the fruit they've produced has never been very good. Maybe too little water, or just not a good variety.

where u live

i really wanna go to the mango festival in miami next july

So Cal.

I've had them from a store and they're OK, nothing to rave about.

do you grow any other fruit?

Called feijoa in Spanish.

feijoa are pretty popular in nz, im a big fan

do you grow any other fruit?

No fruit, some years I do grow tomatoes. The property had apple, nectarine, and walnut trees (1 each) when I bought it, but they've all since died. The fruit trees never produced well, and the walnut got ravaged by squirrels every year, so no big deal.

And it's a single-house lot in the city, not a ranch/farm or anything. 50 x 150 feet.

i do sometimes dream of living somewhere with citrus trees in the backyard ~sigh~

I know people with lemon trees and so much fruit goes to waste - dozens of rotten ones on the ground all around the tree. Even happens with orange trees, though not as much.

I'm hesitant to plant more because of the squirrels.

i feel sad thinking about how i took for granted all the fruit trees i grew up with: at one of the places we lived we had tamarillos, plums (2 kinds), blackberries, raspberries; at my nana's place there were passionfruit and some kind of guava (small and dark pink/red with a firm edible skin); at my grandmother's place there were feijoas.

rotting mangoes are a common sight in my neighborhood half the year-- the dry husks of their pits litter the sidewalks year round

here is a photo i took of a guy looting papayas from a tree growing at a defunct gas station turned recycling center-- his old lady had a huge bucket full of them

http://i.imgur.com/nHVhz.jpg

i feel sad thinking about how i took for granted all the fruit trees i grew up with: at one of the places we lived we had tamarillos, plums (2 kinds), blackberries, raspberries; at my nana's place there were passionfruit and some kind of guava (small and dark pink/red with a firm edible skin); at my grandmother's place there were feijoas.

― just1n3, Wednesday, November 7, 2012 8:10 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

siiiigh

this is the guava my nana grew: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psidium_cattleianum

i've never seen them or tamarillos in the US, but then again, i never saw either of those fruits at any stores in NZ, either

wow they look rad. we had apples, passionfruit, mandarins & grapefruit and now that my parents have retired they've just gone crazier. nz!

https://vimeo.com/53036651

OFFICIAL TRAILER

fruit bloat? the pluot thickens..