General Information
This beautiful fruit can also be used as a vegetable. Attractive in appearance, it needs to be cooked before eaten. Either sweeten heavily with sugar when preparing as a dessert, or season generously with lime juice, mint, or other strong flavors to help “cut” ifs bitter/tart flavor. Tamarillos make good chutneys and salsas. Contains vitamins A and C.
History
Though tamarillos are unknown in the wild state, cultivated varieties are native to the Andes mountains of Peru. The tamarillo has been cultivated on Peruvian mountainsides since pre-Colombian times. It is grown on a small scale from Chile to Venezuela. On the Colombian and Ecuadorian uplands, it is found in every city from Bogotá to Quito. Regardless of its widespread cultivation throughout the subtropics, it is still considered a garden variety fruit and has yet to be heavily exploited on a commercial level. Tamarillo trees are generally propagated from seed and are self-compatible, requiring no pollination, though bee-pollinated flowers improves fruit production. Fruits form from branches in clusters and prolific production occurs on trees year-round, thus fruits do not mature simultaneously and multiple harvests are required unless trees are pruned to prevent constant production. One single tree can produce an average of forty pounds of tamarillo per year. This does not guarantee consistent fruit quality or flavor and only through continued horticultural research can variables such as shape, color and sugar:acid ratios be improved.
