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Re: Sweet! Jamaican fruits...
Jimbelin/Jimbilin also called Otahitie Gooseberry
This fruit will make your whole mouth and batty cawna pucker up.
Phyllanthus acidus
a.k.a. Malay Gooseberry
Small white to slightly yellow colored fruit borne in great abundance, with a crunchy, juicy, acidic flavored pulp.
Source http://www.tradewindsfruit.com/otaheite_gooseberry.htm
Totally unlike a gooseberry except for its acidity, the Otaheite gooseberry, Phyllanthus acidus Skeels (syns. P. distichus Muell. Arg.; Cicca acida Merr.; C. disticha L.), is another of the few members of the family Euphorbiaceae having edible fruit. It has been widely distributed and is variously known as Malay gooseberry, country gooseberry, cheremai, chermela, chamin-chamin, or kemangor (Malaya); cherme, tjerme, or tjareme (Java); cherimbillier, tam duot, chum ruot (Vietnam); mayom (Thailand); mak-nhom (Laos); star gooseberry, West India gooseberry, jimbling, chalmeri, harpharori (India.); iba (Philippines); ciruela corteña, manzana estrella (Mexico), pimienta or guinda (El Salvador); grosella (Costa Rica, Cuba, Guatemala, Nicaragua); groselha (Brazil); groseillier des Antilles (French West Indies); cereza amarilla, cerezo comun, cerezo de la tierra (Puerto Rico); cerezo agrio (Venezuela); cerezo occidental (Cuba); wild plum (Belize, Yucatan); cheramina, jimbling, short jimbelin (Jamaica).
Description
This is a curious and ornamental shrub or tree, 6 1/2 to 30 ft (2-9 m) high, with spreading, dense, bushy crown of thickish, rough, main branches, in general aspect resembling the Bilimbi (q.v.). At the branch tips are clusters of deciduous, greenish or pinkish branchlets 6 to 12 in (15-30 cm) long, bearing alternate, short-petioled, ovate or ovate-lanceolate, pointed leaves 3/4 to 3 in (2-7.5 cm) long, thin, green and smooth on the upper surface, blue-green with a bloom on the underside; altogether giving the impression of pinnate leaves with numerous leaflets. There are 2 tiny, pointed stipules at the base of each leaf. Small, male, female, and some hermaphrodite, 4-parted, rosy flowers, are borne together in little clusters arranged in panicles 2 to 5 in (5-12.5 cm) long, hanging directly from leafless lengths of the main branches and the upper trunk, and the fruits develop so densely that they form spectacular masses. The fruit is oblate with 6 to 8 ribs; is 3/8 to 1 in (1-2.5 cm) wide; pale-yellow to nearly white when fully ripe; waxy, fleshy, crisp, juicy and highly acid. Tightly embedded in the center is a hard, ribbed stone containing 4 to 6 seeds.
Origin and Distribution
This species is believed to have originated in Madagascar and to have been carried to the East Indies. Quisumbing says that it was introduced, into the Philippines in prehistoric times and is cultivated throughout those islands but not extensively. It is more commonly grown in Indonesia, South Vietnam and Laos, and frequently in northern Malaya, and in India in home gardens. The tree is a familiar one in villages and on farms in Guam, where the fruit is favored by children, and occurs in Hawaii and some other Pacific Islands.
It was introduced into Jamaica from Timor in 1793 and has been casually spread throughout the Caribbean islands and to the Bahamas and Bermuda. It has long been naturalized in southern Mexico and the lowlands of Central America, and is occasionally grown in Colombia, Venezuela, Surinam, Peru and Brazil. Formerly an escape from cultivation in South Florida, there are now only scattered specimens remaining here as curiosities.
Climate
The Otaheite gooseberry is subtropical to tropical, being sufficiently hardy to survive and fruit in Tampa, Florida, where cold spells are more severe than in the southeastern part of the state. It thrives up to an elevation of 3,000 ft (914 m) in El Salvador.
Soil
The tree grows on a wide range of soils but prefers rather moist sites.
Source http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/m...ooseberry.html
Jimbelin/Jimbilin also called Otahitie Gooseberry
This fruit will make your whole mouth and batty cawna pucker up.
Phyllanthus acidus
a.k.a. Malay Gooseberry
Small white to slightly yellow colored fruit borne in great abundance, with a crunchy, juicy, acidic flavored pulp.
Source http://www.tradewindsfruit.com/otaheite_gooseberry.htm
Totally unlike a gooseberry except for its acidity, the Otaheite gooseberry, Phyllanthus acidus Skeels (syns. P. distichus Muell. Arg.; Cicca acida Merr.; C. disticha L.), is another of the few members of the family Euphorbiaceae having edible fruit. It has been widely distributed and is variously known as Malay gooseberry, country gooseberry, cheremai, chermela, chamin-chamin, or kemangor (Malaya); cherme, tjerme, or tjareme (Java); cherimbillier, tam duot, chum ruot (Vietnam); mayom (Thailand); mak-nhom (Laos); star gooseberry, West India gooseberry, jimbling, chalmeri, harpharori (India.); iba (Philippines); ciruela corteña, manzana estrella (Mexico), pimienta or guinda (El Salvador); grosella (Costa Rica, Cuba, Guatemala, Nicaragua); groselha (Brazil); groseillier des Antilles (French West Indies); cereza amarilla, cerezo comun, cerezo de la tierra (Puerto Rico); cerezo agrio (Venezuela); cerezo occidental (Cuba); wild plum (Belize, Yucatan); cheramina, jimbling, short jimbelin (Jamaica).
Description
This is a curious and ornamental shrub or tree, 6 1/2 to 30 ft (2-9 m) high, with spreading, dense, bushy crown of thickish, rough, main branches, in general aspect resembling the Bilimbi (q.v.). At the branch tips are clusters of deciduous, greenish or pinkish branchlets 6 to 12 in (15-30 cm) long, bearing alternate, short-petioled, ovate or ovate-lanceolate, pointed leaves 3/4 to 3 in (2-7.5 cm) long, thin, green and smooth on the upper surface, blue-green with a bloom on the underside; altogether giving the impression of pinnate leaves with numerous leaflets. There are 2 tiny, pointed stipules at the base of each leaf. Small, male, female, and some hermaphrodite, 4-parted, rosy flowers, are borne together in little clusters arranged in panicles 2 to 5 in (5-12.5 cm) long, hanging directly from leafless lengths of the main branches and the upper trunk, and the fruits develop so densely that they form spectacular masses. The fruit is oblate with 6 to 8 ribs; is 3/8 to 1 in (1-2.5 cm) wide; pale-yellow to nearly white when fully ripe; waxy, fleshy, crisp, juicy and highly acid. Tightly embedded in the center is a hard, ribbed stone containing 4 to 6 seeds.
Origin and Distribution
This species is believed to have originated in Madagascar and to have been carried to the East Indies. Quisumbing says that it was introduced, into the Philippines in prehistoric times and is cultivated throughout those islands but not extensively. It is more commonly grown in Indonesia, South Vietnam and Laos, and frequently in northern Malaya, and in India in home gardens. The tree is a familiar one in villages and on farms in Guam, where the fruit is favored by children, and occurs in Hawaii and some other Pacific Islands.
It was introduced into Jamaica from Timor in 1793 and has been casually spread throughout the Caribbean islands and to the Bahamas and Bermuda. It has long been naturalized in southern Mexico and the lowlands of Central America, and is occasionally grown in Colombia, Venezuela, Surinam, Peru and Brazil. Formerly an escape from cultivation in South Florida, there are now only scattered specimens remaining here as curiosities.
Climate
The Otaheite gooseberry is subtropical to tropical, being sufficiently hardy to survive and fruit in Tampa, Florida, where cold spells are more severe than in the southeastern part of the state. It thrives up to an elevation of 3,000 ft (914 m) in El Salvador.
Soil
The tree grows on a wide range of soils but prefers rather moist sites.
Source http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/m...ooseberry.html
but thanks for that info about jimbelin...man, there was one tree in my district that i remember, and i don't even know why we ate that thing, it was so blasted sour...but eat it we did!
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