Hybrid fruits

Duck59

Duck59

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Fife, Scotland
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duckholiday.com
One of the answers to the crossword that I was doing this morning was "ortanique," which led me to thinking about hybrid fruits. There seem to be masses of them, particularly of orange and berry type.

Many years ago - duckling days, one might say - I lived in a house that had a loganberry bush in the garden. These fruits, a cross between American blackberries and European raspberries, are quite large and elongated. Eaten raw, you have to get them at the exact point of ripeness: too early and they are very bitter; too late and they are squishy and not very nice, but get them spot on and they are juicy and delicious.

Tayberries, boysenberries, even such everyday fruits like mandarins and grapefruits, are all hybrids. Does anyone have any favourites or oddities to bring to the fruit table?
 
Well, I wouldn't consider it a favorite of mine, but I have had tangelos before which are a cross between oranges and tangerines of course. Last time when I was shopping I saw pummelos which look to be a combination of grapefruits and perhaps oranges. I know that pears and apples have been cross bred as well, and I would love to try the combination!
 
Buffets, which resemble plantains but are really much smaller, seem to be a cross between the plantain and the banana. We had a few of them here lately and I treated them like plantains. I fried them as I would fry plantains, and also steamed a few. I prefer plantains though, but these buffets were given to us by a friend. There have also been occasions when we were given some fruit which is a cross between a lemon and an orange. It had the size of an orange. I used it the same way that I would use a lemon since it was too acid to be eaten on its own.
 
We have the ortaniques if that's how you spell it, here in our country. I also came across what Caribbean girl referred to as buffets and didn't know what to do with them at first. Like her, I ended up using them the same way I would use plantains.
 
Duck59 said:
One of the answers to the crossword that I was doing this morning was "ortanique," which led me to thinking about hybrid fruits. There seem to be masses of them, particularly of orange and berry type.

Many years ago - duckling days, one might say - I lived in a house that had a loganberry bush in the garden. These fruits, a cross between American blackberries and European raspberries, are quite large and elongated. Eaten raw, you have to get them at the exact point of ripeness: too early and they are very bitter; too late and they are squishy and not very nice, but get them spot on and they are juicy and delicious.

Tayberries, boysenberries, even such everyday fruits like mandarins and grapefruits, are all hybrids. Does anyone have any favourites or oddities to bring to the fruit table?
Click to expand...
My ear pricked up at the words 'crossword puzzle'. You see (I'm off topic, I'm afraid), I posted some cryptic clues not long ago to a quiz here: Quiz: Trick or Treat. I think people found them a bit difficult. I do cryptic crosswords so its kind of second nature to me. I was thinking of posting some cryptic crossword clues to my all-time favourite aubergine recipe as part of the The CookingBites Recipe Challenge - but then I thought... no-one will understand. But, dear Duck, perhaps you will!
 
morning glory said:
My ear pricked up at the words 'crossword puzzle'. You see (I'm off topic, I'm afraid), I posted some cryptic clues not long ago to a quiz here: Quiz: Trick or Treat. I think people found them a bit difficult. I do cryptic crosswords so its kind of second nature to me. I was thinking of posting some cryptic crossword clues to my all-time favourite aubergine recipe as part of the The CookingBites Recipe Challenge - but then I thought... no-one will understand. But, dear Duck, perhaps you will!
Click to expand...

Strangely, only Mr Goring recognises this flowering plant.
 
Our banana plant in the backyard is a hybrid of banana and plantain that is imported from Thailand. The first fruiting this year yielded 13 bunches with each bunch having around 20 fruits. It is big and quite harder than the ordinary soft banana but has a size thinner than that of a plantain. It can be eaten as it is and it can also be boiled or cooked. I think it can be a good ingredient for banana muffin although we didn't have time to bake during that harvest. Here is the photo of that first harvest -
IMG_2044 saging harvest.JPG
 
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