LISTEN: The Greenhouse Show tries hybrid stone fruit

SALT LAKE CITY — Want to try a new fruit, but don’t know where to start? KSL Greenhouse Show hosts Taun Beddes, Maria Shilaos and the show’s producer Michelle Lee did a taste test to see what different stone fruits taste like on Saturday.

The fruits the three tried included six fruits from Pyne Farms. Beddes said he was at the farm and ended up going home with a box of fresh hybrid fruit to try.

“There’s a lot of different [fruit] here,” Beddes said. “There’s just a wide variety that you’re only, probably, going to find at local gardeners’ markets and fruit stands.”

Beddes also mentioned how there’s local fresh fruit available at those markets and fruit stands.

Beddes said one fruit called flavor grenade is only available for a couple of weeks and can be used in an assortment of ways.

“People will freeze-dry them, they’ll dehydrate them, use them like you would plums or other fruit in cooking,” Beddes said. “These hybrid fruits, like the plumcots, pluots, are becoming much more popular but they’re still mainly only available at gardeners’ markets with a few in grocery stores.”

 

How did it taste?

Pluerry’s

The pluerry is a hybrid between the Japanese plum and a cherry, the cherry genetics make the fruit a bit smaller, according to Beddes.

After taking a bite, Shilaos said the fruit was a bit more firm than she thought it would be.

“It really surprises you,” Shilaos said. “Not quite as tart as a plum because it has that little bit of cherry flavor in it.”

Pluots

The first pluot the three tried was an ebony pluot.

“This one’s got like a pink, well, red flesh… That’s not sweet at all,” Shilaos said after taking a bite of the fruit.

Beddes said the taste may be in result of the time the fruit was picked or because of the variety.

“If you want something with a bit more mild flavor, this might be something that you might be able to use in a fruit salad to where you want other flavorings in there so that it doesn’t overwhelm,” Beddes said.

The second pluot the three tried was a golden colored pluot.

“This one’s not as firm, first of all,” Shilaos said. “I’m going to like sweeter things…”

Shilaos said the fruit was not as sweet but was more tender with a mild flavor and was a bit more like a pear.

Lee said she prefers softer fruits and leaned more towards this fruit. 

“This last one that we had is, I feel like it was the sweetest out of all of them,” Lee said. “If you’re really into sweet fruits this would be the one.”

The last pluot the three tried tasted sweet, Beddes said the name of the fruit was unknown at the time of the taste test.

“You can find some pluots in the grocery stores, but you’ll pay $4 for four of them,” Beddes said. “If you hit the local fruit stands and gardeners’ markets, you have about a three-to-four-week window when a lot of this stuff is ripening that you’ll not get the rest of the year. And so, it’s just so important to try that local fresh fruit.”

White flesh nectarine 

This fruit and white flesh peaches are popular in Asian countries because it’s their primary peach and nectarine.

Shilaos said the fruit tasted similar to an apple. According to Beddes, the fruit would have been a little sweeter if the three were eating it a little later in the season.

“The white flesh nectarines and white flesh peaches are supposed to be very very sweet,” Beddes said. “They don’t have the flavor complexity of a orange fleshed peach or nectarine.”

Lee said she felt like the nectarine’s taste was stronger than the pluerry’s taste.

Ornamental nectarine 

Beddes said this nectarine was ripe when the three tried it, so the difference in taste was noticeable.

” I had this one last night and I don’t generally like nectarines and peaches as much,” Beddes said. “But this particular nectarine I really liked the flavor.”

Shilaos said she noticed the taste didn’t taste like a regular nectarine.

“I do like this one more than the [white flesh nectarine],” Lee said.

Suncrest Peach

“You know what? That is one of the most delicious peaches I’ve ever had,” Shilaos said.

Beddes said the peaches are delicious when they are allowed to ripen on the tree.

“Suncrest is very common with commercial growers in Boxelder and Utah counties,” “It’s a California variety that I think has kind of fallen out of favor a little bit.”

Lee said the taste of the peach was similar to the flavor of a white peach.

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