- Author: Greg Overduin
UC ANR South Coast REC - Irvine, CA - January 24, 2014
A crowd of almost 200 people were lined up out the door to evaluate this tropical treat grown at the Center. Through a blind tasting, evaluators were asked to rate the 19 varieties using a basic one to five scale for texture, flavor, and overall performance.
The cherimoya collection at the South Coast REC contains various cultivars that are not widely available, and sought after by avid fans of this fruit. The varieties that were evaluated included ‘Big Sister', ‘Booth', ‘Bradley', ‘Chaffey', ‘Deliciosa', ‘El Bumpo', ‘Fino de Jete', ‘Lucida', ‘Nata', ‘Orton', ‘Ott', ‘Oxhart', ‘Pierce', ‘Sabor', ‘Salmon', ‘Santa Rosa', ‘Selma', ‘Whaley', ‘White', and ‘40/10'. The harvest at the time of the tasting was fairly good thanks to a mild winter.
Unlike the previous open tastings where ‘El Bumpo' reigned as the winner in all three categories, results were not as clear cut this year (although it did rank within the top three of each category).
South Coast REC 2014 Cherimoya Tasting Top Three Varieties
Texture | Flavor | Overall | |
1 | Lucida | El Bumpo | Lucida |
2 | Deliciosa | Selma | El Bumpo |
3 | Selma | Lucida | Selma |
On hand to answer questions were the knowledgeable volunteers led by Isabel Barkman and Greg Rager.
Attendees making a donation received a reusable bag that was filled with various varieties of this late winter fruit. Donations will benefit the Urban Horticulture Extension Program at the South Coast REC providing the general public with educational opportunities related to edible and ornamental landscaping.
- Author: Tammy Majcherek
Following last month's haul of 4,600 pounds, Second Harvest Food Bank returned to UC ANR South Coast Research and Extension Center on August 14th, with volunteers from Girl Scout Troop 2088 of Ladera Ranch, to pick fruit for distribution to the hungry. Over the course of three hours, several pallets of citrus were gleaned from the Center's Citrus Block and taken to Second Harvest's facility in Irvine.
UCCE Master Gardeners – Orange County teach the eager youth how to properly use their tools and harvest the fruit, while discuss the importance of taking special care to remove any green material as a precautionary measure in light of the recent issues within Southern California concerning Asian Citrus Psyllid, a sap-sucking bug that is an important pest of citrus, which is one of only two confirmed vectors of the serious citrus disease, Huanglongbing or greening disease.
Special thanks to Girl Scout Troop 2088 and the UCCE Master Gardeners for all their hard work!
- Author: Tammy Majcherek
Don't miss out on all of the fun at the 6th Annual UC ANR Education Expo on Saturday, September 27, 2014. Click on the link below to check out the schedule of events for the day.
Education Expo Program 2014
- Author: Tammy Majcherek
Regrettably, I am writing to inform you that we will be cancelling the persimmon tasting this year. Due to the drought and unseasonably warm weather through-out the year, our harvest is much lower than anticipated.
If I may , I would like to suggest an alternative persimmon event that may be of interest should anyone ask. Pitcher Park, 204 S. Cambridge Street in Orange, holds an annual "Persimmon Party", typically on the third Sunday in November. According to their face book page, the date is November 16th, 12:00 pm to 3:00 pm. It looks like a fun event for the whole family.
Our apologies for any inconvenience and hope you will join us for future activities.
- Editor: Tammy Majcherek
- Author: Linda Genis
- Contributor: Tammy Majcherek
The stats are in for the 2014 UC ANR Urban Landscape and Garden Education Expo! We had 627 visitors sign in, and more than 100 who eagerly went straight to the demonstration landscapes bypassing registration. Visitors came from everywhere between San Diego and the San Fernando Valley. We distributed 1,480 pieces of UC outreach literature. We had 31 vendors, including the UC tables. Five vendors were new to the events. Ninety seven volunteers and 10 staff members energetically putt together the days events.
As a volunteer, whether you bagged hypertufa mix, potted succulents in containers, painted, weeded, dug, cleaned, raked, directed traffic, interacted with the public, or got things organized, you were an important part of this undertaking. We can all be proud of how things turned out and work together to make next year even more spectacular.
Mark your calendar for next year's event: September 26, 2015