August 22, 2009

Unidentified fruit, which we tasted.

DSC03626

It was sweet. Until it was bitter. Then we spit it out. And still we live.

35 comments:

AllenS said...

It's wild plumb. The skin is somewhat bitter, spit it out. The fruit is delicious. They're all over my place.

rhhardin said...

I had one until the power company came through and herbicided it.

Meade said...

"...the power company came through and herbicided it."

Obama

Anonymous said...

The fruits of a poisoned tree!

Joan said...

Meade: LOL

The photo and accompanying caption made me think of this, with relief that your story had a happier ending.

AllenS said...

How about wild plum. Plumb, geez.

William said...

But now we must cloth our nakedness and work very hard.

Moose said...

Not what I envisioned Titus looking like...

Deb said...

allenS, a wild plumb refers to the following post.

Deb said...

Allen S, I just looked at your profile. My DH was in the 82nd, and you guys are about the same age.

ingstr. Almost pig latin for string.

AllenS said...

Deb--

I was in B/2/325th, Jan. 1967 to Apr. 1967.

Tim Wright said...

Perhaps not a wild plumb; could be a green gage, which does seed itself. Tim

Paddy O said...

So, did you see this fruit, and wanting to know more taste it, found it was sweet, then hand it to Meade, who also tasted it?

Then you both realized it was bitter?

Let us know if Meade finds working the soil a bit more difficult from now on.

WV: psheatem

Good advice for some fruits, I suppose. Maybe in a pie or something.

Chip Ahoy said...

Lovely picture, full of win.

But it makes me think, "Who would plant such a thing?" (I know, it's probably native.) Still, it is like the crabapple tree that dominates my friend's back yard, dumping those sour little things that nobody uses every year. Was the nursery out of regular apple trees, or what?

Maybe they saw a picture of a flowering tree in a catalog, or recall Grandmother's jam.

I visualize a shopper at a nursery trying to decide on a tree, weighing options imagined between two hands:

Regular apple / crabapple
Regular apple / crabapple
Regular apple / crabapple
Regular apple / crabapple
Regular apple / crabapple

These decisions are so difficult!

Will said...

Chip Ahoy, Crabapples may be nasty on their own, but they can be made into absolutely delicious jam.

ricpic said...

Those are wee-wee'd nectarines.

The Dude said...

I like plums, cultivated and wild, and crabapples. The wood from those trees makes wonderful wooden object.

WV - hypersms - because regular SMS was not enough. Look for MegaHyperSMS in stores soon.

Wince said...

Althouse & Meade.

Seduced by the forbidden fruit of the blog.

Bissage said...

(1) Great snap!

(2) Cedar-apple rust makes Bissage cry.

(3) Okay, not really.

(4) Cedar-apple Snapple?!?!?!

(5) Unidentified fruit is the best stuff on Earth!

(6) * little tear *

wv = fando. Lightly carbonated so you can slam it down fast!

MamaM said...

Over the years, two of the trees I've received as Mother's Day presents have been flowering crabtrees.

While they were purchased for their look and blossom color, their names definitely added to the overall experience and memory.

We now have as part of our landscape a Flowering Royal Crab, and a Weeping Crab.

They complement the three older crabtrees, creating a bank of pink in the spring, and food for the creatures in the fall/winter when their apples drop.

And that's how one family choose crabtrees over apples. (They are also much easier to mow around and under when the fruit is ripe.)

Mortimer Brezny said...

That fruit is poisonous.

Unknown said...

"Chip Ahoy, Crabapples may be nasty on their own, but they can be made into absolutely delicious jam."

My grandma used to make crabapple jelly. Best thing ever.

VW: nancard -- ID you will be required to show at McDonald's to prove you are federally approved to eat a cheeseburger.

Big Mike said...

And still we live.

Professor?

Meade?

You haven't posted anything since this was posted. We're getting worried here. Please check in?

Jason (the commenter) said...

Sounds like fruit of the tree of knowledge to me. Did you feel a sudden urge to don fig leaves after eating it?

Ann Althouse said...

LOL. We're still here.

DADvocate said...

Can't tell how large the fruit is. I initially thought of a persimmon which is quite bitter until it is fully ripe. But, searching images, it looks a little more like wild plums.

David said...

You live, but you must leave the garden now, never to return.

Yours very truly,

Barack Obama

blake said...

Persimmons?!

"Thanksth for the thour perthimmonsth, buthter!"

Deb said...

All the comments about crabapples and plums has brought back childhood memories. We had several crabapple and plum trees in our yard. My aunt lived next door, and she had pear trees. Every summer she and my mother put up jelly - plum, pear, crabapple. Now I'm getting nostalgic. Those were some wonderful days.

former law student said...

(Apple vs. crabapple decision)

I speculate fear of wasting good food led to that decision. A house in our neighborhood has a peach tree planted in the parking strip, and an apple tree next to the driveway. Every year, they let fruit fall from both trees and hit the sidewalk. What a waste, I always think, but I'm not into eating roadkill.

On the other hand, the people across the street from me growing up had a crabapple tree. Spectacularly full of blossom in the spring, the inedible fruit it spread upon the ground made useful projectiles for our boyhood wars. No one regretted good food gone to waste.

Ralph L said...

I remember persimmons having a cap like a strawberry. My great aunt's tree was destroyed by lightning a few months after she died and right after my grandmother cancelled the lightning insurance.

I'm stealing figs from the next block so they don't all go to waste. A much sweeter fig tree was removed from the rental house around the corner two years ago, probably because the wasted fruit attracted so many bees.

AllenS said...

fls--

Crabapples to a slignshot, are like a nail to a hammer.

Kirby Olson said...

Are there any fruits that are so poisonous that one bite will kill you?

Ralph L said...

Yew?

kentuckyliz said...

Strange Fruit
Hanging From the Trees

Really Like Your Peaches
Wanna Shake Your Tree