Home to one of only a few persimmon germ plasm collections in the United States, the UC ANR South Coast Research and Extension Center welcomed invited guests, the California Rare Fruit Growers Association and the UCCE Master Gardeners on Friday, November 10, 2016. Attendees were treated to the annual persimmon taste testing held at the REC in Irvine. Of the approximately (59) guests, 50 took part in evaluating the persimmon fruits grown at the Center. Evaluators were asked to rate the 12 varieties using a basic one to five scale based on attractiveness, astringency, sugar, flavor and overallperformance.

 Persimmon cultivars are classified in relation to fruit astringency at harvest: Pollination

Constant Non Astringent (PCNA), Pollination Variant Non Astringent (PVNA), Pollination Variant Astringent (PVA) and Pollination Constant Astringent (PCA). PredominatelyPCNA, the varieties that were evaluated during the tasting included ‘OCFuyu', ‘CaliforniaFuyu', ‘GiantFuyu', ‘Suruga', ‘Hana', ‘Imoto', ‘MatsumotoWase', ‘Fuyu F8', ‘South Coast', ‘Kurokuma', ‘Gosho', ‘TrueGuyu', ‘Jiro', ‘San Pedro', and ‘Tribble'. Giant Fuyu was a clear favorite with Tribble not far behind as the ‘Overall' winner.

The persimmon collection at the Center contains various cultivars that are not widely available and are sought after by avid fans of this fruit. 

Participants, young and old alike, expressed their excitement for the opportunity to sample the various varieties not commonly available in the marketplace and to learn more about this fall gem from knowledgeable volunteers who assist in maintaining the Center's collection. In addition to early cherimoyas, attendees enjoyed learning about Hoshigaki - a Japanese technique of preserving persimmons by peeling and drying them whole over a period of several weeks through a combination of hanging and delicate hand- massaging, until the sugars contained in the fruit form a delicate surface with a dusting that looks like frost – a very special treat.

 Many thanks to the staff, CA Rare Fruit Growers, OC Chapter; UCCE Master Food Preservers and Master Gardener volunteers who helped with the slicing, setup, facilitating, and clean up. Very special acknowledgment to Isabel Barkman and the volunteers who assist with our orchards year round for their hard work pruning, harvesting, labeling, and preparing the persimmons for the event.

                 

Join us for our annual Cherimoya Taste Test. Information below:

UC ANR South Coast Rec and Cooperative Extension hosted members of the Southern California Rare Fruit Growers – OC Chapter on November 5, 2016. While several of the (16) attendees assist with several research projects, they aren't always exposed to other research taking place at the REC.

 

On the tractor driven tour of the Center, Tammy Majcherek discussed the various programs, tools, and network that UC ANR provides the communities that it serves. The group was very interested to learn about current research projects, agricultural practices and daily operations, in addition to integrated management practices to detour vertebrate pests such as squirrels, along with fruit-pecking birds. The group enjoyed the demonstration by Chris Martinez showing how to scare crows off fruit with the siren from a bull-horn. Also on hand was UCCE Master Gardener volunteer, Isabel Barkman to talk about the fruit trees grown at the REC.

 

 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

UC Cooperative Extension, collaborating with various organizations such as OC Vector, Target Specialty Products, Univar, Orkin, Bell, BASF, Syngenta, and WECO to name a few, hosted the inaugural West Coast Rodent Academy at the South Coast REC. 

The three day workshop on urban rodent management provided attendees an opportunity to develop skills in staged, real-life scenarios and lectures providing them with a better understanding of rodent ecology and integrated pest management strategies.