Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with fruit

How much should I charge for my fruit tree planting service?

Sentus — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 10:11:02 -0800

I am doing a lot of landscaping gigs lately, and want to start planting Edible Landscape for folks. How much should I charge for an edible tree package? Hello there fellow Mefi friends!

Fruit trees, Berries and Nut trees.

I will come to the customer, asses and test his soil for P.H and drainage, check the amount of sun the area is receiving, see that the area is large enough to provide space for future growth.

I am not going to push stuff that will not grow well in the area/problematic/high maintenance just to make a sell. Only trees that "want" to grow there, and will prosper without much maintenance, disease and pest problems.

Included:
* Healthy vigorous plants that have been checked for disease, been found free of "root bounding". Specific verities that adapted to the growing zone.
* Beautiful organic soil mixture tailored for new trees.
* Thick Layer (4"-6") of good mulch.
* An information pamphlet about the tree history, the specific variety, growing tips, watering schedules, pruning advice.

My questions will be:

1. What is the price range you would be willing to pay for something like that? How much for one tree? How much for a package of five shrubs/trees?
2. If the client have deer problem/huge dogs I can install a small durable fence. How much extra you think that worth to you?
3. What other services/extras I can offer that you think will make your decision more smooth?
4. Generally speaking, would you want a cheaper younger tree (2'-3' feet tall) or a more expensive and established tree (5'-8' feet tall)?
5. Any other suggestions and nuggets of wisdom?

Thank you and have a great day,

juicer suggestions?

anya32 — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 12:56:25 -0800

looking for some suggestions for a juicer. i really want to buy a fruit/vegetable juicer. something that can handle carrots, beets, oranges, etc. i know from friends that some machines break down really quickly but i am having trouble navigating online reviews. any suggestions would be super appreciated!

Help Me Make My Salads Less Lame

jason's_planet — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 10:34:17 -0800

How do I make my salads less lame? Hello. My name is Jason and my salads are painfully dull. Every day, usually with dinner, I throw together some spinach, a tomato and half of an avocado.

Ho-fucking-hum.

I attribute my utter lack of salad inspiration to my utilitarian view of the dish -- that they're just vitamin pills that you eat with a fork. But I know that there's more to making salads than that, that they can be bona fide examples of culinary artistry as well.

So what are some good salad recipes -- or salad-making principles -- that would help me get out of this rut? Bonus points for salads that draw upon a wide range of vegetables, as I've heard that such variety is not only pleasing to the palate but also great for one's health.

Many thanks in advance.

A piece of fruit on prime time?

slactoid — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 10:33:38 -0800

Fruit on TV? I remember someone saying something to the effect of, "If we put a piece of fruit on television every night, it will become a national icon". Who said that? And I think that someone actually did it (SNL?), did THAT happen?

Should I be taking vitamins to make up for my fruit allergies?

stleric — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 13:15:15 -0800

I'm allergic to most fruits. Should I be taking some sort of multivitamin? I am allergic to varying degrees to a variety of delicious and nutritious foodstuffs. I'm most allergic to bananas, kiwis, mangoes, and avocados (not to a hospitalization/EpiPen extent, but I usually would stop eating only a few bites into any of the above), and am somewhat more mildly allergic to apples, oranges, berries, grapes, as well as carrots and a few varieties of nuts. I can eat probably about half of an apple or orange before the throat swelling/tingling/itchiness really starts to get to me, but I usually just don't eat said fruits so that I can avoid the allergic reactions altogether.

I don't think that it's due to pesticides, since I usually wash fruits fairly thoroughly. It seems like cooked fruits either don't give me allergic reactions or diminish the reactions, but it's not always convenient for me to be cooking everything.

If eating raw fruit is usually out of the picture, is there some sort of vitamin or multi-vitamin that I should be taking to pick up the slack in getting the right vitamins and minerals in my diet? If so, is there anything in specific or any vitamins and minerals that I should be looking for to replace what I would have been getting from fruit (especially the bananas, mangoes, etc.)? Should I just be eating a lot of processed pre-cooked fruit products and crossing my fingers that I don't get a reaction?

Thanks, everyone!

Always always eat green green apples. Unless they're organic.

liketitanic — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 08:55:58 -0800

Why do organic Granny Smith apples so often taste so crappy? How can I pick better ones? Okay, Granny Smith apples are the ONLY KIND of apples I like. Seriously. This is something I know and accept about myself. The tartness, the texture, the crunchy. So good. Except, you know, apparently conventionally-grown apples are full of pesticides. So sometimes I try to buy organic Granny Smiths and they are almost always MUSHY and NOT TART and it kills my green apple buzz. 9 times out of 10, I'd say. Often enough that I've returned to the pesticide alternative, where a bum apple seems to be much rarer.

Why is this? Is there some way I can, like, know at the store whether an apple is going to be crappy or not? Should I just eat the conventional ones?

Make my Olive Trees Fruitful !

southof40 — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 16:17:16 -0800

How can you encourage an Olive tree to fruit ? What can I do to encourage my previously barren Olive trees to produce fruit ?

I have an Olive tree in my garden. It's 7 years old and we have yet to see any olives.

I live in Wellington, New Zealand and the climate looks like this. (the seasons are back to front if you're a Northern Hemisphere person and so we're currently heading into Spring).

I know that some Olive trees require the company of others to pollinate but my neighbours have three and six Olive trees respectively and they don't get any fruit either. I'd really like to help all three houses produce some olives !

I also know that there are Olive trees in Wellington which produce Olives - these for instance - which are reasonably close to where I live - so it's not completely impossible.

I would love to hear from someone who knows how I could encourage the tree to produce fruit.

(I expect someone's going to ask me what variety of olive tree it is and I don't know that - would a photograph help ?)

What version is this Pod?

Mountain Goatse — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 12:42:20 -0800

What is this? (Can|Should|How do) I eat it? So, I got a whole bagful of these from someone who grew them. They were not able to tell me what it is, but said it was edible. Here's what I do know:

1. Grows on a vine.
2. Stem leaks a milky white fluid.
3. Doesn't smell like anything in particular.

My google-fu has proven quite weak in this case. What is this thing?

More importantly, can we garnish a cocktail with it?

halogen — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 22:11:49 -0800

Found this mutant-cherry fruit on a tree near Laurelhurst Park in Portland, Oregon today. Can you identify it? Can we eat it?

"Italian grapes" - they're neither Italian nor grapes. Discuss!

chan.caro — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 20:47:21 -0800

[Identify this fruit filter] What fruit is this? I just started eating this fruit, and can't get enough of it. It's a very deep purple, the skin is quite thick and somewhat tannic, and the juice is so fragrant my head spins when I have one. Inside are a few small, green seeds (the tiny out-of-focus thing in the foreground of the photo). There is also a green variety that has a slightly thinner skin and is little more tart, but almost nearly indistinguishable. The meat is grape-like in that it has the signature texture and vein-iness. What's also striking is how round they are - each one is a perfect sphere.

I unfortunately only know the Chinese name of it - "Italian grape" - and google-fu fails me when the only things I have to work with are "Italian," "grape," and "Chinese." Also, unsurprisingly, I've only been able to find them at Chinese groceries/supermarkets.

What are these tasty buggers?

my dew ain't done

elle.jeezy — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 18:21:57 -0800

i cut my honeydew too soon. what can i do that's tasty with the other underripe half?

The Intoxicated Aesthete

The Whelk — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 15:22:18 -0800

Help Me Give The Gift Of Drunkeness: What can I infuse in these little jars? I got a case of them as a gift and I want to turn it around into another gift, little jars of infused vodka, but I have some questions, mostly about making them pretty. 1) I've washed them out and scrubbed off the labels and kept the tops so I can re-seal them with wax later. Anything else I should know?

2) Are they large enough to successfully infuse in the jar or should I make a big batch and then re-fill all of them? I'd to have some whole fruit/spice/whatever floating in them to make em all pretty. What could I fit in them that would look good (raspberries, for example, just turn white and weird looking) and also infuse the vodka? Cinnamon sticks? Vanilla? Mint sprigs? What's in season now (Eastern US) that infuses well/is totally tasty/unusual?

3) How long should I let them sit, considering the size? Do I have to keep them out of sunlight?

4) Anything else I could do to make them super-attractive little art objects you can also consume? Do they make edible glitter?

After the juice

londongeezer — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 05:06:05 -0800

The juice comes out of the juice-extractor, and left behind in the machine is dryish fruit and/or vegetable pulp. Does anyone cook with this pulp? Does anyone have any ideas for cooking with it? It just seems to me it is a shame to chuck it away. I guess it retains some nutritional value. Correct me if I'm wrong, though.

Blueberries

Chele66 — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 11:02:21 -0800

Has any of you gardeners had any luck with potted blueberry bushes? I don't have enough room in my backyard to plant them, and I've also heard that they can get quite out of control if you do. Then I heard of potted BB bushes and wanted to get some advice.

Thank you....

Millions of peaches, peaches for me.

_dario — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 16:04:45 -0800

How can I avoid (or at least, delay just for a few days) the growth of mould on my fruit? We're just two, and she eats very little fruit, so I'm having most of it, and it's ok since I love fruit.

Now, the problem is: we live in the countryside, and - for what I gather - the air is naturally alive with spores and fungi and who knows what else, so most of the fruits I buy (especially peaches and apricots this season) grow beautiful, colourful and interesting moulds in one or two days from the moment I buy them (at the supermarket, where they're apparently intact).

This means they're not treated with too many nasty chemicals - yay!

But honestly I'd like to be able to stop tossing more or less half of what I buy into the recycle bin. Firstly because I don't like throwing food away, secondly because I *really* do love fruits. I'm not too squeamish and have no problem in cutting away a bad part and eating the rest, but here we're talking from pristine to unrecoverable in little more than 24 hours!

Data points: the fruit is kept in a small darkish storage room beside the kitchen, at room temperature (now about 70-80F). There's very little humidity - to the point that salt or sugar don't clump at all or a box of cereals/crackers/cookies can be forgotten open, and keeps crunchy for a long time.

What should I do? Keep it in the fridge? Wash everything just after buying, let dry in the air and see what happens? Store in a sealed container? Add some bicarbonate or a very mild chlorine based disinfectant to the water? Buy very little quantities day by day? (I'd prefer to avoid that for practical reasons) or just stop getting my fruit at the supermafrket and go to the farmer market? ... complex esoterism involving candles, incense, peanut butter and a norwegian llama?

Good places for picking our own fruit in southern California?

estherbester — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 18:42:40 -0800

My parents want to go to an orchard to pick fruit this holiday weekend. Where could they go that's within ~100-mile radius of LA or Orange counties? Doesn't really matter which fruit; I'd just like good recommendations. All I have to go by is this list, and if there's anything better, I'd like to know!

Produce poems?

bubukaba — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 13:27:26 -0800

I'm looking for poems about food, especially fruits and vegetables. Anything from the lowest doggerel to the highest verse.

I know about this thread from last year, but I'm hoping for a broader selection (I don't care if it's not in the public domain) and a more specific focus (fruits and veggies).

Tips for vacuum-sealing fruit?

adipocere — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 11:31:16 -0800

Does anyone have any experience using various short-term food preservation vacuum devices (such as the Tilia FoodSaver) on cut-up fruit? I need to get more fruit in my diet (who doesn't?), but I tend to balk at a whole unit of whatever fruit, as the flavors are fairly overwhelming for me. I can do about a third of an orange. About half a banana makes me queasy.

What I would like to do is cut up an apple; peel an orange; wash some grapes, strawberries, and so on. Then, in each container, I'd put a few slices of apple, some orange segments, a few grapes, a chunk of banana, and the like, to create a pleasing variety (enough for my n servings per day), and perform whatever vacuum sealing operation is needed , then pop the container in the fridge. I could then just add a container of fruit to my lunch daily, but only have to prepare on a weekly basis. Twice a week, if need be.

Are these particular vacuum sealers which are good for this? Containers which are well-suited (I do not plan to waste my money and litter the planet with plastic bags)? Any fruits to avoid?

Bonus Round: Should I do the lemon juice trick on the apple slices?

This date left me with a bad taste.

unmake — Fri, 29 May 2009 13:23:56 -0800

What's up with funky-tasting dates? I recently bought a 5lb bag of dates, and have found that about one in eight has a weird marzipan/tangy/nasty flavor. After the first two, I noticed that these dates have a black powdery substance inside them..

Is this mold? And how is it that it's only on the inside - externally, they look like the good-tasting dates.

Looking for the Best Dried Blueberry

boombot — Wed, 27 May 2009 09:09:39 -0800

Kirkland Dried Blueberries are far larger and plumper than any other dried blueberries I've ever seen, akin to a ball bearings, but they're sweetened. Can I find get an unsweetened dried blueberry like that, or is the process that makes them sickly sweet also what makes them so much larger than usual?

Don't pick the prickly pear by the paw.

Greg Nog — Mon, 11 May 2009 12:30:12 -0800

Where can I get prickly pear cactus fruit in New York City? And when is it likely to be found? I'm looking to procure roughly 5 to 6 pounds of the fruit.

Orange, kumquat, grapefruit, lemon, lime and... pineapple?

Rash — Sun, 03 May 2009 16:29:17 -0800

Is pineapple citrus? Why or why not?

What's up with dried fruit?

shrimpsmalls — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 18:29:29 -0800

What's up with dried fruit? So, I know that each prune is a whole plum minus the water. Is this true for all dried fruit? Upon eating a sprinkling of sun dried tomatoes today, I wondered if I was in effect consuming 7 or 8 tomatoes. Also, if this is the case, why do things like dried apricots, papaya, and so on have relatively little to offer in terms of fibre and other nutrition? (at least according to the info on the package) If each bite is a just the meat of the fruit minus the water, wouldn't each bite have the equivalent fibre/nutrition content of a whole portion?

Just curious. I've never made my own, so I'm not sure how it all works.

A Bananna Spinich Smoothie?

doorsfan — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 08:07:53 -0800

Looking for more than just a fruity smoothie... So this week I jumped onto the breakfast smoothie bandwagon thanks to a healthy living blog where I found this recipe:

# The juice from 1 lemon
# 1/2 cup parsley
# 1 stalk of celery
# 2 big handfuls of Spinach or collard greens
# 1 inch of peeled ginger
# 1 medium cucumber
# 1 apple, peel on, no seeds or stems
# 1 banana (peel off of course)
# Add water as needed for a good consistency.
*I added 1 1/2 cups of ice and just a little bit of water

I got to tell you I was really apprehensive about the concoction but it's great and I'd love to find other healthy smoothies like it.

It's not hard to find smoothie recipe's online but I am having difficulty finding a similar fruit vegetable combination (apparently this is half a day's supply of each) that I don't have to go to a specialty grocery store to get the ingredients.

The other piece to this puzzle is that it would be nice to know the health benefits associated with the finished piece and or the individual ingredients.

Can anyone recommend fruit and vegetable healthy smoothie recipes or point me to a free online resource?

Looking to buy healthly blueberry plants in Massachusetts!

csimpkins — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 05:29:58 -0800

Where can I buy established blueberry plants that are ready for transplant in northern Massachusetts? All I seem to find are those dormant twigs squished into a box (ala BJ's or Home Depot) that will take years to start bearing fruit, if they do at all. I'm looking to pay a little more for a quality, healthy and established plant that's ready to be transplanted and start producing this year or the next.

Anyone know of a place, preferably north of Boston, where I can buy these? Alternatively, anyone have experience with a reputable online dealer that will ship them?