Best Tasting Plant

[BayAreaGardener]

Well I had the pleasure of trying Ugni Molingae last weekend after a search for the plant for about 2 months in a little nursey near the Pacific and I have been hooked on finding what the best tasting fruit and nuts are in Chile. So far this and the feijoa are the only ones I know can grow in our Mild winter-Cool summer weather (although I am currently living in a more typical mediterreanean climate).

I saw a picture of Chilean Nutmeg and wanted to know if the fruit were tasty too. But to get to the point my question is; what are the best tasting fruits that can grow in my climate?

[BayAreaGardener]

No responses? Could someone atleast tell me what Chilean Bellflower fruits and the Chilean Nutmeg taste like; they seem most interesting to me because I want to get into forest gardening and I like the idea of a fruit that can grow in almost full shade and a tree with fruit and useful wood.

Lee

Oh and by my climate I meant the cool/foggy summer, mild winter one; not the dry and hot summer, mild winter.

[charliepridham]

No responses? Could someone atleast tell me what Chilean Bellflower fruits and the Chilean Nutmeg taste like; they seem most interesting to me because I want to get into forest gardening and I like the idea of a fruit that can grow in almost full shade and a tree with fruit and useful wood.

Lee

Oh and by my climate I meant the cool/foggy summer, mild winter one; not the dry and hot summer, mild winter.

Lapageria fruit are very sweet and quite pleasant but you will need to get hold of two genetically dissimilar plants for a good fruit set, Berkeley botanic (which I have just come back from) have a good range but you will need to try and talk to Carlos Rendon the propagator because the different named clones differ in the amounts of fruit. he may even be able to supply to wild seedlings or you could buy the seed here (I had good germination) it will take around 4 years before they start flowering though

[BayAreaGardener]

Thankyou for the reply; I was wondering though if its really best to eat them unripe ? I read that its best to do that as the seeds are quite numerous; also what does it taste like?

So far I am merely planning; it will be some time before I can be in that climate again.

[charliepridham]

Thankyou for the reply; I was wondering though if its really best to eat them unripe ? I read that its best to do that as the seeds are quite numerous; also what does it taste like?

So far I am merely planning; it will be some time before I can be in that climate again.

You would probaly get a better answer from a chilean! but I would think just as the pods soften, I can best describe them as being a bit like Passion fruit, lots of seed but small amount of very sweet goo around them. It may be possible to eat pulp and seed together if harvested earlier but as I run a nursery and sell Lapageria eating the seed seems an extravagance But the seed from here was very good and I had around 85% germination in about 21 days, you just needs some patience for the first year after germination

[mpierre]

Nutmeg is very tasty though I only prefer to add them on my coffee or chocolate drinks and not really on any food. I am very much into that strong taste they add but it only works well for me on those with a very basic taste. Unlike cinnamon which I prefer to add on greens if they are eaten just with balsamic vinegar or even some form of olive oil.