Learning Your Fruit Flavor Lingo
So you walk into your local nursery and you just don't know how to describe your fruit taste or what you like. Have you ever heard the terms acid, low acid or sub-acid when it comes to fruit? What do they mean? How do you ask for that particular taste you may be looking for? What are Brix?
Here is a brief description to help you out on your decision making.
Brix is a measure of the amount of sugar in fruit. The higher the brix the sweeter the flavor. This is measured by a number, for example a peach with a brix of 20 would be considered having high brix or very sweet.
Acid type fruits are those with a bite. we may refer to them as zesty or having a tart taste.
Sub-acid These fruits are considered sugary and sweet. They generally do not have the zesty tart taste of an acid type piece of fruit.
Low acid I generally like to refer to these as a combination between sweet and tart flavors.
Many of the names of Tomorrow's Harvest varieties have their descriptions built into the name. "Ginger Zest", an orange peach with a zesty (acid) taste. "Sugar Tiger, a yellow stripped saucer peach with a sugary (sub-acid) taste. So next time you head into your local nursery, have fun selecting your favorite fruit trees.
Look for fun and tasty varieties such as Fire Ball, Kandi Korn, Pink Perfume or Pumpkin Spice. There are over 35 new introductions for next winter season. You may even be lucky to find a Freckle Face, the number 1 rated nectarine according to S.F. Gate.
