'Gray 'Abiu
Scientific name: Pouteria caimito
Family: Sapotaceae
Dear Don,
Enclosed
is a photo of my 'Gray' abiu taken from my 8 ft. grafted tree. This
fruit had a diameter 4 3/8 inches and weighed one pound eight ounces.
This 'Gray' variety outperforms all other abius I am aware of. I'm sure
my eight-foot tree must have nearly a bushel of golden-yellow fruit,
really incredible! Unfortunately our Caribbean fruit fly has recently
discovered this Amazonia fruit so we have to bag them.
Don, what
I would really like is for you write a short article on this fruit to
be published in Tropical Fruit News. Among the information desired
would be:
I assume this variety is named after you. How did you make the selection?
Where did it come from?
Is it grown commercially in Australia?
Are there any special horticultural requirement?
How popular is this fruit when sold in produce depts? Any special information on this particular variety.
How long has the Gray abiu been around?
If it is subject to fruit flies in Australia what do you do?
W.F. Whitman, Bal Harbour, Florida 33154, U.S.A.
Don Gray's reply:
Here is an update on the Gray Abiu.
The
Gray Abiu tree was bought in 1980 from Avondale Nursery owned by Ian
and Dawn Wilson. Ian Wilson kindly sold us this Abiu tree from his
personal collection, as an abiu tree previously purchased had died
because we had kept the soil too wet from the tree being heavily
mulched. (It is with regret that Ian Wilson died in 1995).
The
seed was collected by Alan Carle in 1979 on a collection trip to South
America. Alan collected the seed from a place 200 m above sea level in
Colombia, called Leticia in north west South America.
The Abiu,
now named the Gray Abiu, is quite popular in local markets as the
tourists love the fruit, but the tourists have to be given a taste to
introduce the fruit.
The Gray Abiu will keep for up to 2 weeks
without refrigeration. The fruit has to be handled carefully: picked
from the tree and wrapped in tissue and carefully packed in trays. We
are now picking the fruit when the abiu is completely yellow with only
a small circle of green on the stem end. The fruit when refrigerated
will brown on the skin. But the inside of the fruit is still white and
sweet as long as the fruit has not been bruised.
Resorts here
are cutting them up for fruit platters and brushing the cut fruit with
a solution of lemon and water to stop the cut from turning brown (much
like a cut apple).
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