Saturday, March 14, 2015

Friday (the 13!) and Loquats


Today is Friday the 13th!  The second one for this year and there's another one occurring in November, as well! 

Today, I went to the office and had a very productive day.  I remembered to take my reading glasses, so all was well.  *smile*

After I came home, I picked the first ripe fruit on my loquat tree:

Loquats

I actually have three loquat trees which are growing together in a clump.  But last year, the neighbor's garage caught fire and the heat from the fire caused two of the trees to wilt and brown.  I cut them down to almost ground level and they regrew.  There are no fruit on those two trees yet, but the one tree that wasn't damaged by the fire has fruit.

Loquats are easily bruised, so they are not usually sold in the grocery stores.  However, one of the ethnic stores (the one I will be going to this weekend for the apples at $.39/lb. and tangerines at $.33/lb), sells loquats for $4.99 per container.  I don't know how much each container weighs, but it is the size of a 1 pint berry basket.

I ate the loquats I picked today, but I think I'll let the rest ripen a little longer, as the ones I had today were a bit sour.  The problem with leaving them on the tree is that the birds like them as well!  Last year, I made a batch of jam with the loquats I picked.  This year, there won't be as many loquats, but maybe I can mix some with apples to make a batch of apple-loquat jam. 

Have you eaten loquats?  If so, do you like them?

6 comments:

  1. I've never even heard of loquats before.

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    1. Jess, now that you've heard of them, I hope you get to taste them some day.

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  2. It must have been scary to have your Loquat tree catch fire as a result of neighbour's garage fire. I hope you filed a claim for two trees whose fruit you use. The thing that worries me most about living in a condo is the neighbour in the townhouse adjoining ours. If she does something stupid, we will likely suffer the consequences. If her garage caught fire, ours would burn as they have a common wall.

    The 1st winter, the chap 3 units down went off on holiday forgetting to turn off his external taps for winter. The waterline cracked in our minus 30C and his neighbour's basement flooded about a foot. Our entire quadrant turned into a skating rink with about 4 inches of ice. We were able to get the car out of the garage but driving it to the complex's exit was terrifying as we were sliding sideways.

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    1. Hon, the loquat trees didn't actually catch fire; the leaves wilted and turned brown, as did several other plants (which died) along the wall I share with the neighbors. And no, I didn't file a claim; it never even occurred me to do so!

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  3. We have four loquat trees. Our temps aren't as warm as yours, though, so we won't have fruit until later in the summer. We've tried the fruit a couple of times and it's good, but we never seem to get around to picking it. I will try to make a point to do so this year.

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    1. I hope you get to pick the fruit. But, if not, I'm sure the birds in your area will enjoy them.

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