Gadenin日本語Get the appFrom flower to fruit in about a month
The trunk erupts in small white flowers that look like a coating of fuzz over the bark. Within a few days those set, and the fruit swells from green through red purple to a deep glossy black over roughly twenty to thirty days depending on temperature. In warm weather it is closer to twenty. This is fast for a fruit tree, and it means the window between not ready and over ripe is narrow.
A mature tree in a suitable climate will do this more than once a year, sometimes several times, in distinct flushes. Each flush behaves the same way, so once you have timed one accurately you can predict the rest. Note the date you see the white flush and the date you first pick from it, and you will have a reliable number for your own tree.
Fruit near the base of the trunk and on the thickest older wood tends to ripen slightly ahead of fruit higher up. Work the tree from the bottom upward each time you pick.
| Stage | Appearance | Action |
|---|---|---|
| Flowering | White fuzz over the bark of trunk and main limbs | Do not let the soil dry; water deeply |
| Green fruit | Hard, pea sized, matte green | Nothing; keep water steady |
| Coloring | Red purple, still firm, slightly glossy | Too early, the flavor is thin and sharp |
| Ripe | Uniform deep black, glossy, gives slightly to a light squeeze | Pick now |
| Over ripe | Dull, soft, skin splitting or weeping, wasps present | Remove and discard; do not leave on the trunk |
Judging ripeness by hand
Color alone is not quite enough, because the fruit turns black before it is at its best. Wait until the black is uniform and shiny with no remaining reddish cast, then squeeze one lightly between finger and thumb. Ripe fruit yields a little and springs back. Fruit that is still hard needs a few more days; fruit that stays dented is past it.
The definitive test is to eat one. Ripe jabuticaba is sweet and grape like with a faint resinous note from the skin, and it separates from the bark with almost no pull. If you have to tug hard enough to move the branch, it is not ready, and pulling it off damages the bearing site on the bark for future crops.
Pick every day or two through a flush. Fruit left on the tree past ripeness splits, ferments in place and draws wasps, ants and fruit flies straight to the trunk, which then becomes a problem for the next flush as well.
How to pick without hurting the tree
The fruit sits on an extremely short stalk directly against the bark, so there is no room for pruners and no need for them. Everything is done with fingers, and the whole point is to remove the fruit while leaving the bearing site intact.
- Roll rather than pull Take the fruit between finger and thumb and roll it sideways with light pressure. A ripe fruit releases immediately. This avoids the straight outward tug that tears bark.
- Leave what resists If a fruit does not come away with a gentle roll, leave it and come back in two days. Forcing it removes a patch of the fruiting surface that would have borne again.
- Work bottom to top, all the way round Circle the trunk completely each time, including the side facing a wall or fence. Fruit hidden on the back of the trunk is the fruit that ferments and starts a pest problem.
- Collect into a shallow container Use a shallow tray rather than a deep bucket. Jabuticaba crushes under its own weight, and crushed fruit at the bottom of a bucket is already fermenting by the time you get indoors.
- Strip the over ripe and take it away On the same pass, remove any split, weeping or dull fruit and take it off site. Do not drop it at the base of the tree, where it feeds the next generation of fruit flies.
The three day clock, and what to do about it
Picked jabuticaba begins to ferment within about three days at room temperature, and often sooner in warm weather. The skin softens, the flesh turns winey and the fruit becomes unpleasant to eat fresh. This is not a storage problem you can solve with better handling; it is the nature of the fruit, and it is the reason you will almost never see it in a shop.
Refrigeration buys a little, not a lot. Chilled in a single shallow layer, unwashed, the fruit holds for perhaps five or six days before the flavor goes. Wash only what you are about to eat, because surface moisture speeds the collapse. Freezing works far better: spread the fruit in one layer on a tray, freeze solid, then bag it. Frozen whole, it keeps for months and thaws well for juice, jelly and syrup even though the texture is gone for eating out of hand.
Plan the processing before you pick. Decide in the morning whether that day's fruit is for eating, freezing or cooking, and pick accordingly. Picking a large quantity with no plan is how most of a jabuticaba crop is lost.
Do not wash the fruit before storing. Water on the skin cuts the already short life by a day or more. Rinse at the point of eating or processing instead.
What to record from each flush
Write down four things per flush: the date the white flowers appeared, the date of the first pick, the date of the last pick, and a rough weight or volume. After two seasons this gives you the interval from flower to harvest for your own tree, the number of flushes your climate supports, and whether the tree is trending up or down in yield.
Also note anything that went wrong and when, particularly any dry spell during flowering, because the connection between a missed watering and a flush that produced almost nothing is only obvious when both are written down with dates next to each other.