August 2009
This information is general in nature and should not be taken as professional advice.
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Tamarillo
Common: Tamarillo, Tree Tomato
Spanish: Lima Tomate, Tomate Extranjero, Tomato De Arbol
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Solanales
Family: Solanaceae
Genus: Cyphomandra
Sub Genus: Solanum
Latin Name: Solanum betaceum
No of Species: 30 species of Cyphomandra
Origin:
The tamarillo is native to the Andes of Peru, Chile, Ecuador and Bolivia. A relative of the potato, tomato, eggplant and capsicum pepper.
Distribution:
Tamarillos were first introduced into New Zealand from Asia in the late 1800’s. Originally only yellow and purple-fruited strains were produced. The red tamarillo was developed in the 1920’s by an Auckland nurseryman from seed from South America.
It is cultivated in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Colombia, Indonesia (where it is known as “terong Belanda” or ”Dutch eggplant”), Kenya, Portugal, the United States and Venezuela. It is grown as a commercial crop for international export in New Zealand and Portugal.
Anecdotal:
Prior to 1967, the tamarillo was known as the 'tree tomato' in New Zealand, but a new name was chosen by the New Zealand Tree Tomato Promotions Council in order to distinguish it from the ordinary garden tomato and increase its exotic appeal. The choice is variously explained by similarity to the word 'tomato', the Spanish word 'amarillo', meaning yellow, and a variation on the Maori word 'tama', for 'leadership'
Appearance:
Egg-shaped, with a thin deep red or yellow skin and a soft flesh (when ripe), with dark-colored seeds occupying about one third of the interior. A black variety is grown.
Taste:
The tamarillo has been described as having a taste similar to those of a passion fruit and a piquant, organically-grown, tasty tomato combined. This writers tasting identified flavours of caramel, vanilla piqant elements of saffron.
Eat alone with:
- Yellow fruits are considered best for preserving because of their superior flavor.
- The halves may be seasoned and grilled or baked for 15 minutes for service as a vegetable.
- Blend, deseed, reduce and dry as fruit leathers.
- Freeze as sorbet. Whole, peeled fruits, with sugar, are cooked to a sauce for use on ice cream.
- Make jam, or cordial. Being high in pectin, the fruit is easily made into jelly but the fruit oxidizes and discolors without special treatment during processing.
- In Colombia, Ecuador and Sumatra, fresh tamarillos are frequently blended together with water and sugar to make a juice. It is also available as a commercially pasteurized purée.
The peeled fruits may be pickled whole.
Eat with:
Cheeses
Lime juice
Coconut milk
Curry
Other Fruits
Added to stews (such as Boeuf Bourguignon), hollandaise, chutneys, and curries. They are also tasty and decorative in, for example, radicchio salads.
Appetizing desserts using this fruit include bavarois and combined with apples in a strudel.
Chopped slices are blended with cream cheese and used as sandwich spread.
Seasoned with salt and pepper, the slices can serve as sandwich-filling or may be used in salads.
Peeled, diced fruits, with diced onion, breadcrumbs, butter and appropriate seasonings are employed as stuffing for roast lamb.
The peeled fruits may be may be substituted for tomatoes in a hot chili sauce.
Other Uses:
Dyes
Fruiting:
The fruit can be between 2 and 8 cm in length. They are held on the tree in clusters as are many other clustered fruit, such as cherries. A well-nourished tree can produce up to 66kg of fruit in a year.
Growing:
Frost at 28 F (-2.2 C) kills the small branches and foliage of mature trees but not the largest branches and main stem. The tree will recover if such frosts are not prolonged or frequent. However, seedlings and cuttings are readily killed by frost during their first year.
Protection from wind is necessary as the tree is shallow-rooted and easily blown over. It is also brittle and its branches are easily broken by gusts, especially when laden with fruit.
Propagation:
Seeds or cuttings may be used for propagation. Seeds produce a high-branched, erect tree, ideal for sheltered locations. Cuttings develop into a shorter, bushy plant with low-lying branches, suitable for exposed, windy sites. The tree does not always come true from seed, but is most likely to if one is careful to take seed from red fruits with black seed pulp or yellow fruits with yellow seed pulp.
Pollination. Tree tomato flowers are normally self-pollinating. If wind is completely cut off so as not to stir the branches, this may adversely affect pollination unless there are bees to transfer the pollen. Unpollinated flowers will drop prematurely.
Flowers - Borne in small, loose clusters near the branch tips, the fragrant flowers, 1/2 to 3/4 in (1.25-2 cm) wide, have 5 pale-pink or lavender, pointed lobes, 5 prominent yellow stamens, and green-purple calyx
In Brazil, seeds for planting are first washed, dried in the shade, and then placed in a freezer for 24 hours to accelerate germination. They are then planted in boxes of rich soil–12 in (30 cm) between plants and 24 in (60 cm) between rows–and virtually 100% will germinate in 4 to 6 days.
Cuttings should be of 1- to 2-year-old wood 3/8 to 1 in (10-25 mm) thick and 18 to 30 in (45-75 cm) long; the leaves are removed and the base cut square below a node. They can be planted directly in the field and, while precocious, should not be permitted to fruit in the first year.
Growth Habit:
Small, half-woody, attractive, fast-growing, brittle tree; shallow-rooted; reaching 10 to 18 ft (3-5.5 m) in height; rarely as much as 25 ft (7.5 m).
Pruning:
Seedling trees are pruned back the first year after planting to a height of 3 or 4 ft (0.9-1.2 m) to encourage branching. Annual pruning thereafter is advisable to eliminate branches that have already fruited and induce ample new shoots close to the main branches, inasmuch as fruit is produced on new growth. Otherwise, the tree will develop a broad top with fruits only on the outer fringe. And wide-spreading branches are subject to wind damage. Pruning facilitates harvesting and, if timed appropriately, can extend the total fruiting period.
Early spring pruning of some of the trees brings about early maturity; Autumn pruning of other trees delays fruit maturity to the following Autumn.
Soil:
The tree tomato cannot tolerate tightly compacted soil with low oxygen content. It requires fertile, light soil. It grows well on deep lateritic soil in Haiti. Perfect drainage is necessary. Water standing for even a few days may kill the tree.
Aspect:
They grow best in full sun except in hot, dry situations, where partial shade is better. They are shallow rooted and so do not suffer wind.
Diseases:
The principal disease is powdery mildew (both Erysiphe sp. and Oidium sp.), which may cause serious defoliation if not controlled. Minor problems include Sclerotinia disease (Sclerotinia sclerotiorum), the black lesions of which girdle stems and cause terminal wilting; and Ascochyta disease (Ascochyta sp.) which is evidenced by small, round, black, dead areas on leaves, especially mature leaves. Tree tomato mosaic virus causes pale mottling on leaves and sometimes on the fruits which has not been considered a serious disadvantage. Another virus disorder, called "bootlace virus", distorts the leaf, especially on young plants, reducing it to little more than the midrib. Affected plants are pulled up and destroyed.
Insects:
The tree tomato is generally regarded as fairly pest-resistant. A looper caterpillar makes large holes in the leaves of young plants in the nursery but causes little damage to trees in the field. Occasionally the plants are attacked by the green aphis.
In South America and the Caribbean, the fruits are subject to attack by fruit flies.
Pests:
Birds and possibly bats.
Nutrition:
Low in fat and hence calories
Low in carbohydrates and the carbohydrate present is mainly in the form of fibre
High in potassium but extremely low in sodium, which is a desirable balance for a healthy diet
Contains other trace elements important for health, in particular copper and manganese
Source of fibre
Source of Vitamin A, B6 and C.
Also contains Vitamin E and Thiamine
Vitamin C, E and B-carotene (provitamin A) have been regarded as the major nutritional antioxidants for many years. Tamarillo contains vitamins C and E, phenolics (including anthocyanins and other flavonoids) plus carotenoids.
Ethnomedicinal:
The family is also a member of the nightshade family or potato family. The family includes Datura (Jimson weed), mandrake, deadly nightshade (belladonna), capsicum (paprika, chili pepper), potato, tobacco, tomato, eggplant and petunia.
Medical Warnings:
Do not eat unripe fruit. may contain high levels of alkaloids.
Information Sources:
scpa.org.au
thebegavalley.org.au/seedsavers.html
en.wikipedia.org
www.tamarillo.com
www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/morton/tree_tomato.html
www.crfg.org/pubs/ff/tamarillo.html
www.iucnredlist.org
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Recipes:
Tamarillo Sorbet
Ingredients
6-8 Tamarillo
1-1/12 sugar syrup
1/2 cup lemon juice
1 egg white
Method (without ice cream churn)
Blanch and refresh tamarillos and then peel or simply scoop out pulp.
Blend to a puree in a whizzer.
Pass through seive to remove seeds.
Add lemon juice and sugar syrup.
Beat egg white to soft peak and fold gradually through.
Place in a glass or greaseproof tray. Freeze for a few hours.
Remove from freezer (let soften for 10 minutes) and reblend in whizzer to make a smooth slush.
Refreeze and repeat (this step is not required but makes for a smoother, lighter sorbet).
Pack into ramekins and freeze.
Remove from freezer 20 minutes before use.
Makes an ideal palate cleanser.
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Tamarillo Chutney
For a great recipe go to to www.tamarillo.com
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Olive Bread
Ingredients
1 bottle balsamic vinegar (normal size!)
One spanish onion diced
Three to five garlic cloves
Pepper
One small stalk of rosemary (1 or two good Tbsp) and save one stalk for bread mix
200 grams chopped deseeded olives (be careful and thorough!) - save half for bread mix
Bread dough
Simmer ingredients in vinegar until half reduced
Blend to a pulp, simmer to a paste - do not allow to burn
Mix half chopped olives, extra rosemary into wet dough, with pepper.
When bread dough is at drier second rise stage spread reduced n balsamic paste over well flattened dough, roll, cut into scrolls, bake in a low oven.
Totally.
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Summer New Zealand Tamarillo Salad
from www.tamarillo.com
with shaved fennel, aged balsamic vinegar and manuka honey
Ingredients
3 red tamarillos
3 gold tamarillos
1 fennel bulb large
225 gms mixed organic greens
1/2 cup aged balsamic vinegar
1 tbs sugar
1 tbs manuka honey
1/2 cup avocado oil
Season to taste
Peel Tamarillos by destemming, then blanch in boiling water for 20 seconds and then dunk in cold water, peel. It can help to place a small X at the base of the fruit and peel from there.
Cut into quarters and toss with 1/2 of balsamic vinegar and sugar. Let stand for 30 minutes. Whisk together remainder of vinegar with honey and avocado oil. Season to taste with sea salt and pepper. Shave fennel as thin as possible. To serve, toss together marinating Tamarillos, fennel and greens. Season. Arrange on 4-6 salad plates and serve immediately. Serves 4-6
Recipe provided by Shawn McClain
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