Munchkin:
Observations of Eugenia spicata or Sour Peach.
I was first introduced to this fruit five years ago when I was enthusiastic about planting anything and everything on my farm and the more unusual, the better. A friend had handed the fruit to me which was roughly five centimetres in size, bright yellow in colour, with a skin resembling that of a peach. The most striking thing about the round shaped fruit was the smell; the fragrance was of a very sweet peach and it promised such sweetness and nectar-like qualities to the taste buds! My friend gave me a knowing smile and asked me to taste it; my facial expression said it all: the anticipated sweetness was not there but instead, it was as sour as a lime and I felt the acidity in my teeth and gums, feeling as if my teeth were going to dissolve in the acidity.
After all that, it still did not stop me from keeping the seeds of the fruit to plant. There are about two or three seeds in one fruit which are hard and oval in shape. I planted two of the seeds on my farm and observed the growth of this tree. The bark of the plant is reddish-brown and it grows in a shrubby manner. It is an evergreen tree, leaves being dark green, ovate and entire with an acuminate apex and obtuse base; new leaves are pink in colour. Within three years it started bearing the yellow fruit for which I coined the name “Sour Peach,” because by then I had forgotten the Latin name for it. The first year, I ate a few, out of principle dipped in salt and then left the rest for the wild birds, ducks and geese (They did not seem to have any problem with the acidity.).
The trees bloom twice a year and they are heavily laden with fruit. This year I decided that I had to try and eat more of the fruit. After all, what was the use of having a farm if I was not prepared to eat the fruit of my labour? So, I peeled and removed the seeds from the fruit and then added sugar, to make jam. As the mixture simmered, it turned from yellow to orange to a beautiful red. The fruit had a lot of pectin in it and the finished product was a beautiful red jelly, tasting very much like cranberry jelly, going very well with roasted meats. .I have been so pleased with this fruit that as a result, every single fruit it picked and I don’t leave a single one for the birds to eat.
Eugenia spicata is in the Myrtaceae family and apparently originated from Sri Lanka, India, China and Indo-China. There is very little written about this Eugenia species but some information states that it is found along rivers, sea-shores and tops of low hills, growing at an altitude of 2000 feet. It is mostly grown as an ornamental for its neat crown and attractive reddish bark. I did not find any information on the fruit on the Internet or tree encyclopaedia. I recommend this fruit to anyone who likes to make homemade jellies and sweets as, in addition to using it by itself, it can also be added to other jams as a pectin source.