venturabananas
05-27-2013, 11:29 AM
I had the good fortune of having ripe Dwarf Brazilian fruit and ripe fruit from an unidentified variety in the Pome subgroup in my yard at the same time. The unidentified Pome was acquired from Jon (pitangadiego) as "Cardaba", which is what is was labelled when he bought it. It's definitely not Cardaba. And it's definitely in the Pome subgroup. It's very similar to, if not the same thing as, a moderate height "tall" Brazilian (i.e., not the monster Brazilians that get 20' + of pseudo stem). This one fruited for the first time at just under 12', which is typical for this one, from what I recall Jon telling me. It's a winner. Among the fastest to bloom (17 months) and ripen fruit (7 months) in my cool climate of the varieties I've tried. And the flavor is great. Really, the only downside in my view is the height, which is only a problem in that it gets really shredded when it's windy.
Here are some photos of the fruit, comparing it to Dwarf Brazilian. If I was forced to choose one of the other, I'd choose the Pome. The flavor, though darn near identical was slightly better to me (less earthy or vegetal), and the plant is much faster to produce than DB. The only other noticeable difference between the fruit of these two varieties is that are more of the black "aborted seeds" in the Pome fruit that then DB fruit.
Unidentified Pome on left, Cavendish from store for scale, Dwarf Brazilian on right.
http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=53093&size=1 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=53093)
Pome on left, DB on right.
http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=53092&size=1 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=53092)
A very tasty bowl of cereal. Pome on left, DB on right.
http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=53091&size=1 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=53091)
Fruits of unidentified Pome. One is a fused double and the top one is normal.
http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=53090&size=1 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=53090&ppuser=7760)
Here are some photos of the fruit, comparing it to Dwarf Brazilian. If I was forced to choose one of the other, I'd choose the Pome. The flavor, though darn near identical was slightly better to me (less earthy or vegetal), and the plant is much faster to produce than DB. The only other noticeable difference between the fruit of these two varieties is that are more of the black "aborted seeds" in the Pome fruit that then DB fruit.
Unidentified Pome on left, Cavendish from store for scale, Dwarf Brazilian on right.
http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=53093&size=1 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=53093)
Pome on left, DB on right.
http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=53092&size=1 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=53092)
A very tasty bowl of cereal. Pome on left, DB on right.
http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=53091&size=1 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=53091)
Fruits of unidentified Pome. One is a fused double and the top one is normal.
http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=53090&size=1 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=53090&ppuser=7760)