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[INDOOR-GARDENING:327] Cheese plant fruit

I haven't written to the list in an age, but I must share this with you
all...
Long term list members might remember how excited I was in the summer of '97
when my variegated cheese plant FLOWERED!!  It flowered again, twice, last
summer and the weight of the three fruits meant I had to re-inforce the ties
holding the vine onto the ceiling.
Last week, I was even more excited when the fruit ripened enough to eat!!  I
really didn't think that a plant grown in an ordinary south facing
sun-lounge on the east coast of Scotland would produce fruit, let alone
fruit that would ripen.  It's the fruit of '97 that ripened, so it's taken
just a tad short of 2 years - don't know if it's any quicker in warmer
climes, or the wild - I first noticed that the small banana sized shape was
swelling, but thought it might be my fevered imagination running wild (after
suffering yet another dismal winter >g<), but when the hexagonal scales
started to fall off, I quickly twigged what was happening (can't get much
past me...) and cut off the whole fruit so that I could show it to my Mum
who lives a way away.  I'm afraid she didn't get to see the whole fruit,
because once I had tasted the little triangular pieces of flesh under each
scale, I just had to have another... and another... You get the picture :-).
The taste and texture is a little like the fruit we call Custard Apple or
Cherimoya over here - Annona cherimola - and I suppose the only reason it
isn't grown on a commercial basis is that the fruit might not travel well
when ripe - my fruit book says that it must be eaten in a really ripe state
as there are crystals in the unripe fruit which irritate the mouth (and with
our current 'nanny' like state, the government wouldn't want to risk us
hurting our mouths, now, would they?! VBG).
Anyway, just thought you'd all like to know that the Monstera Deliciosa
really does live up to its name!  Only another 12 months before the next 2
fruit ripen...
Liz Bradbury in a cold, wet, dismal Scotland, where the weather has
apparently forgotten it's meant to be Spring!
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