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Published Friday, March 5, 2021
 By Victoria Torley
Since I seem to be stuck in the treetops, I thought I would continue with those exotic fruiting trees.
We can’t really grow apples in Costa Rica – yes, I know there are rare exceptions but apples, like pears, peaches, cherries and a host of other fruits, require a true cold snap to flourish. So, instead of apples, we have things called “apples” that aren’t apples. Sigh.
Take the Malay apple for example. One of my books says it is “widely planted throughout the tropics” but I have never seen it for sale at the market. It has an interesting back-story though.
Remember Captain Bligh of mutiny on the Bounty? He was captain of the Providence when he brought the tree to the Americas from Tahiti. The Malay apple is an evergreen tree that grows to fifty feet and has small cerise flowers that pop out on branches and trunk.
The 2-3 inch fruit follows the flowers and is said to be apple-like in flavor. Eat them raw or make a jam or wine from them. They may be called the Malay apple, but they are pear-shaped. Who knew?
And then we have the mammee apple, also called the apricot mamey, which is totally confusing. Perhaps the flavor is a combination of apple and apricot? It is another tall tree, topping out at sixty feet and with fragrant white blooms that are sometimes used in a liqueur. The fruit is a sphere and can be eight inches in diameter. It is described as orange-red (the apricot part?) and sweet. Eat it raw from the tree or cooked.
Well, we might as well finish up with two more “apples,” the sugar apple or sweetsop and the custard apple or bullock-heart.
The sugar apple, or chirimoya, is the smallest of the “apple” trees, topping out at twenty feet and deciduous. The fruit looks something like a greenish pinecone but isn’t prickly. When the fruit is ripe, the bracts can be pulled from the fruit and the pulp eaten from them. The fruit is also made into a sherbet or a beverage.
The custard apple is a slightly larger tree, about twenty-five feet tall. Although the tree is in the same genus as the sugar apple, it is heart-shaped rather than pinecone shaped. The fruit is said to have a flavor similar to a custard, hence the name. It can be eaten raw or made into an ice cream, pudding or cooked and used as a sauce.
For some reason, I am feeling quite hungry.
Plant for the Week
If you travel out to the Liberia area, stop in at the Cocobolo Tree Farm and take a look at the malice, Delonix regia, also called “Flame of the Forest” for its amazing red flowers. The tree has spreading branches and fern-like leaves. This is a tree that can tolerate living at the sea-side. Plant in an open area in well-drained soil rich in organics. It will flower best in the dry season. Save the seeds, soak them for a day and then plant them in pots. I can guarantee that your friends will be happy to have one.
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Editor's note: For more information on this article Ms. Victoria Torley, gardener columnist, can be reached at victoriatorley1@gmail.com
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