I watched this ten years ago when it was new. I’m glad it’s still here. In that time I have been fortunate enough to grow a loquat from volunteer, the size of my hand to maturity. Moving twice, it growing in a bucket until finding its ground space six years ago. This spring is the first time fruit have formed, and like I did with my loquats Mother tree fruit, I will do with this ones. Loquat wine and Grappa.
Hey Green Dean, I have a couple of loquat trees near my house, and thanks to you, I think I'm the only person in the neighborhood (downtown San Jose, CA) that knows they're edible. During the spring I picked a bunch and made some pretty good jam (following an apricot jam recipe but substituting loquats). I also decided to use the seeds for your grappa recipe, which should be ready to drink soon. Anyway, I just wanted to say thank you for all the useful information.
Loquats taste like a peach, apple and apricot all together! Refreshing and juicy and sweet! Just wish they were bigger, you have to eat 6 or 8 of them since they are small with huge seeds! But they are fun!
I always enjoy seeing the creative things you do with the plants you forage. Thanks again for all the effort you put into these videos, they're both enjoyable and educational.
Thank you for this idea Mr. Green Dean! I did this and just bottled the finished product that started in March of 2023. The reason some folks think this taste like almonds, i think, is their confusing the taste of amaretto. The flavor is similar to Maraschino cherries. As i bottled it i added one cinnamon stick per bottle and a sliver of lemon peal without the white part. I have long enjoyed Disaranno Originale. It is not made with almonds either, though people think it is in error. I enjoy all your educational videos.
The one major issue with soaking the seeds in alcohol is that it is going to draw out all the excess cyanide that is contained in the seeds, which is what gives the alcohol that bitter/almond taste and has a potential to kill. Like apple seeds, it may only be a trace amount, but that trace amount can have a drastic impact on your health
Loquats are everywhere this time of year. There are so many cultivars available. There are "white" loquats which are the sweetest ("vista white" "strawberry"). The Japanese have a few "seedless" varieties, though I have yet to see them in the USA yet. The most common cultivar in FL is called "Big Jim" - doesn't have much going for it other than a large fruit size and small seed. Still, seedling fruits are delicious. I've been up to my elbows in them these last 6 weeks.
You got really smooth in your videos. I refer to them often - thanks for imparting your great knowledge. I only trust those who actually have done it. I make my own edible plant videos too, and I always credit you, Linda Runyon, and Jim Meunick - because you actually do it. Thanks Again.
Lovely... just harvested 4050lbs of loquatsss... no leaves but may next year.. OWNER WILLING.. and noticed a tree or two on the way out of harvesting.... So may be more... Joy Joy Joy... Going to make the best of ALL Harvests this year..
Loquats are my favorite spring fruit! I'm always shocked at how many grow in California and are completely ignored. Heh, I was really glad you mentioned the liqueur! But I think you were a little harsh on people who say it tastes like almonds; the flavor is very comparable to Amaretto (bitter almond) though it's a bit harsher, especially if you are impatient and try to drink it before it's aged! :) I like to put a strip of lemon and a bit of vanilla bean into it as well.
In Japan these are "Biwa." He was right: from tree to tummy. Non stop. Ripe ones' flesh will yield to finger pressure and separate from the stems easily. If you are the back to nature type and want to go paleo, pull it off the tree without the stem. Bite off the blossom end (it does look like an apple blossom). Or you can peel the blossom out with a thumbnail. Peel the skin from the blossom end. Reach into the open end, split open the fruit, and with the thumb nail, eject the seeds and scrape out the membrane. Pop the remaining flesh. into your mouth. No need to use a knife. Don't eat the seeds. Like applles, they contain cyanides.
Thank you so much for making so many great videos and having such an informative website. I too live in FL, and plan on attending one of your classes hopefully this summer. We have several Loquat trees on our property, and the fruit is delicious! I'll have to try your liquor recipe. Thanks again, and please keep up the awesome work!
Thanks for a great vid, I was just asking my buddies what this plant was last night, as I ran into it for the first time. and after sampling a very small piece of the fruit, I was prying it was indeed safe to eat...come home and log on to youtube, and there you are....lol there is a plot in town that has tons of these growing on it, and now I am going to get permission to harvest some. Thanks Brother
You can dehydrate them!?!?! WOW!!! I have a dehydrator and access to a loquat tree! Thanks! I will try this! We always have many that go to waste because we can't eat them all before they go bad (extremely quickly)
i am interested in dyeing with natural colors; the loquat makes some fabrics light pink, and others a pinkish tan, similar to the avocado peels color I am cooking a pot of leaves right now to dye some yarn tomorrow. Its supposed to be very decently colorfast to laundry and the light! We are blessed!
I am trying your grappa recipe, and I disagree that they don't smell like almonds. My seeds have been soaking in vodka for several months now, and they smell very much like almond extract.
@mothmanifest Eugenia dombeyi can be eaten off the tree when ripe or used to make jams, jellies and pies. The loquat wine recipe is on my website. Type "loquat" into the search window.
Doesn't cyanide taste like almond extract which also tastes very much like cherry? Isn't the cyanide in fruit seeds actully a cousin to cyanide whichis called vitamin B 17 and used by some to kill cancer cells?
@teeninja323 two weeks perhaps. Usually folks buy them canned unless they live where there grow, and then one usually does not see them in the marketplace fresh.
Japanese Plums grow wild where you live? You must live in Heaven, or Florida. They grow pretty easily around here, but can't say I ever saw them just growning where they felt like growing.
Where do I find out how to use the leaves and the medicinal uses? PS the birds LOVE them too...now, just to teach the birds how to pick up the seeds lol
Perhaps but it would be involved whereas there are many other seeds that are extremely deadly, some immediately and some not immediately but for which there is no antidote.
+Patti P I have diabetes type 2 and have read loquat tea is good for my disease. Have you heard anything about this? And how do you make your tea? The way I made it once was to simply rinse off the leaves with water..cut leaves into very small pieces..boil for about 20-30 minutes depending on how strong you want it..boil longer if you want it stronger..then pour the liquid through a coffee filter after it has cooled off. This way you don't have to scrub the leaves and your tea will be ultra pure and clean. Problem is..I keep forgetting to make it again..lol.
@JohnElwaymaniac Marijuana and I parted company some 35 years ago, though I see it quite often in a particular environment. And if the roots of some Elephant Ears are properly processed they are edible. As for revelations... I've had a few. And marriage... always presumed it would happen but it never did. Lifelong bachelor. I've accepted that and moved on. Heck, I'm not even sure I've dated in this century....
@Farfromhere001 This is a topic that comes up time to time, and it is a diffiicult one. I recently heard a professor say 75% of all plants are toxic to man. Some 5 to 10% are edible and in between is some 15 to 20% that can go either way. And what is toxic? Thiings that just make you sick or can kill you in a few hours with no hope of survival? Then there is the legal liability and the fact that people could mistake a toxic plant fo an edible because that is what I usually cover.
Loquats are normally only found as far north as Georgia, but if you were to grow it in a greenhouse or in a container that you bring inside for the winter freezes, you should have no problem growing it in Kentucky. -Ten oldescrubland.blogspot.com/2012/06/loquat-eriobotrya-japonica.html
You may have addressed this already but I didn't see it in the comments. You said, and I have heard before, that one shouldn't eat the seeds of many fruits in this family because something in them is metabolized in the human body into cyanide. But then you you soak them in alcohol and make a liqueur from them. Obviously it's safe because you've been doing it for 8-9 years, if I heard you correctly. Can you enlighten me on this topic?
Dean green my loquat tree did not do very well last year. Year before it was abundant with large seeds now this year 2022, it is producing mediocre amounts of fruit but in spite of them being super sweet they do not contain any speeds and at all. can you tell me why
hello.. i just discovered a grumichama cherry tree which is putting out some young fruit and wonder if you know anything about it? i also have loquats! this video was very informative thank you. how do you make that wine?
I like that drink, and I think you could go further with this concept. Maybe you should do a video called drinktheweeds followed up on an epsiode called smoketheweeds. Lol, but seriously.
I got to know loquat 2 weeks ago. Someone had a bucket full of them, I took 5 of them, then forgot. I alway leave fruit behind. a toast cheese and tomato is better, isn't it? I am ashamed I did not know loquat. tasted a bit of one, i think i like them. I tend to make a bunch out of apricots, plums, peaches cause i am sort of allergic. But these are different I think. i am not acquainted to know new fruit, like I don't really like fruit. Maybe it is just the commercial fruit i do not like. realizing perhaps have to wait 1 year to see loquats again
Green Deane : :) I don't drink, but I like cherries and cherry flavoring. The way you described your 'grappa' was curious and appetizing. Perhaps I shouldn't start drinking now. I just planted a seven foot loquat tree (because my grandmother had a tree), and I'm excited to get as much as I can from this tree. I appreciate the information in your videos and you taking the time to respond to my question. Gerald :)
I watched this ten years ago when it was new. I’m glad it’s still here. In that time I have been fortunate enough to grow a loquat from volunteer, the size of my hand to maturity. Moving twice, it growing in a bucket until finding its ground space six years ago. This spring is the first time fruit have formed, and like I did with my loquats Mother tree fruit, I will do with this ones. Loquat wine and Grappa.
Hey Green Dean, I have a couple of loquat trees near my house, and thanks to you, I think I'm the only person in the neighborhood (downtown San Jose, CA) that knows they're edible. During the spring I picked a bunch and made some pretty good jam (following an apricot jam recipe but substituting loquats). I also decided to use the seeds for your grappa recipe, which should be ready to drink soon. Anyway, I just wanted to say thank you for all the useful information.
Almonds and cherries smell very much alike. Noses vary.
My loquat trees give fruit twice a year, in the spring and then again in the fall.
Lower California.
Really enjoyed this. I have a large amount of these and don’t want them to go to waste. Thanks for sharing.
Loquats taste like a peach, apple and apricot all together! Refreshing and juicy and sweet! Just wish they were bigger, you have to eat 6 or 8 of them since they are small with huge seeds! But they are fun!
I always enjoy seeing the creative things you do with the plants you forage. Thanks again for all the effort you put into these videos, they're both enjoyable and educational.
Thank you for this idea Mr. Green Dean! I did this and just bottled the finished product that started in March of 2023. The reason some folks think this taste like almonds, i think, is their confusing the taste of amaretto. The flavor is similar to Maraschino cherries. As i bottled it i added one cinnamon stick per bottle and a sliver of lemon peal without the white part. I have long enjoyed Disaranno Originale. It is not made with almonds either, though people think it is in error. I enjoy all your educational videos.
The one major issue with soaking the seeds in alcohol is that it is going to draw out all the excess cyanide that is contained in the seeds, which is what gives the alcohol that bitter/almond taste and has a potential to kill. Like apple seeds, it may only be a trace amount, but that trace amount can have a drastic impact on your health
Loquats are everywhere this time of year. There are so many cultivars available.
There are "white" loquats which are the sweetest ("vista white" "strawberry"). The Japanese have a few "seedless" varieties, though I have yet to see them in the USA yet.
The most common cultivar in FL is called "Big Jim" - doesn't have much going for it other than a large fruit size and small seed.
Still, seedling fruits are delicious. I've been up to my elbows in them these last 6 weeks.
Always a WEALTH of useful information.
Many Thanks.
Thanx Green Deane! That grappa looks great!
You got really smooth in your videos. I refer to them often - thanks for imparting your great knowledge. I only trust those who actually have done it. I make my own edible plant videos too, and I always credit you, Linda Runyon, and Jim Meunick - because you actually do it. Thanks Again.
Lovely... just harvested 4050lbs of loquatsss... no leaves but may next year.. OWNER WILLING.. and noticed a tree or two on the way out of harvesting.... So may be more... Joy Joy Joy... Going to make the best of ALL Harvests this year..
I always thought cherry & almond flavors were hard to tell apart for me.
It's time to wake up.
somebody in our neighborhood has a loquat tree by the street and he lets me eat them, I love them
Loquats are my favorite spring fruit! I'm always shocked at how many grow in California and are completely ignored.
Heh, I was really glad you mentioned the liqueur! But I think you were a little harsh on people who say it tastes like almonds; the flavor is very comparable to Amaretto (bitter almond) though it's a bit harsher, especially if you are impatient and try to drink it before it's aged! :) I like to put a strip of lemon and a bit of vanilla bean into it as well.
In Japan these are "Biwa." He was right: from tree to tummy. Non stop. Ripe ones' flesh will yield to finger pressure and separate from the stems easily. If you are the back to nature type and want to go paleo, pull it off the tree without the stem. Bite off the blossom end (it does look like an apple blossom). Or you can peel the blossom out with a thumbnail. Peel the skin from the blossom end. Reach into the open end, split open the fruit, and with the thumb nail, eject the seeds and scrape out the membrane. Pop the remaining flesh. into your mouth. No need to use a knife. Don't eat the seeds. Like applles, they contain cyanides.
I love your channel! I love all these plants,fruits and vegetables and learning more about them.
Love all your videos, your humour n your enthusiasm. Thank you !
Cheer up. The farther north one goes the less toxic plants.
Thank you so much for making so many great videos and having such an informative website. I too live in FL, and plan on attending one of your classes hopefully this summer. We have several Loquat trees on our property, and the fruit is delicious! I'll have to try your liquor recipe. Thanks again, and please keep up the awesome work!
Thanks for a great vid, I was just asking my buddies what this plant was last night, as I ran into it for the first time. and after sampling a very small piece of the fruit, I was prying it was indeed safe to eat...come home and log on to youtube, and there you are....lol there is a plot in town that has tons of these growing on it, and now I am going to get permission to harvest some. Thanks Brother
Also use leaves to make tea or for pain wrap on gauze place on are that hurts and pain away for 48 hours
Grows here in japan , the leaf isused as tea ( biwa cha ) appetite suppressant , and much more , I add new small leaf to smoothies
Oh my goodness, once you open them up they look just like the dragon eye fruit we ate in China all the time. I had no idea they grew here.
You can dehydrate them!?!?! WOW!!! I have a dehydrator and access to a loquat tree!
Thanks! I will try this! We always have many that go to waste because we can't eat them all before they go bad (extremely quickly)
Lol this dude is a badass. Glad I stumbled onto this channel haha. Godspeed goodman, love your spirit 👍
@TalvellaMaa Thanks... I'm too old for video games. Heck I stopped watching TV back in the 70s.
i am interested in dyeing with natural colors; the loquat makes some fabrics light pink, and others a pinkish tan, similar to the avocado peels color I am cooking a pot of leaves right now to dye some yarn tomorrow. Its supposed to be very decently colorfast to laundry and the light! We are blessed!
@EatTheWeeds Good to know your here even when your not. ;) Touche :)
Hope all is well and you had a wonderful weekend.
In Nepal/indian cusine loquats are used in pickle. I use fresh loquats in my stir fry, stews, and teas.
I wanna try that. I wish you lived more north. I love cherrys and we ate 90 % of our food when I was little either out of the garden or yard.
I am trying your grappa recipe, and I disagree that they don't smell like almonds. My seeds have been soaking in vodka for several months now, and they smell very much like almond extract.
Malta Plum! One of the best things in life!
On my website.
@mothmanifest Eugenia dombeyi can be eaten off the tree when ripe or used to make jams, jellies and pies. The loquat wine recipe is on my website. Type "loquat" into the search window.
So, in Israel we call this Shesek and it's very normal and common
loquats are so good.
Absoultely. I'm sure you can find or buy them there.
Doesn't cyanide taste like almond extract which also tastes very much like cherry? Isn't the cyanide in fruit seeds actully a cousin to cyanide whichis called vitamin B 17 and used by some to kill cancer cells?
They're called nisperos in Costa Rica. I'm not sure if they have the same name in Mexico.
@teeninja323 two weeks perhaps. Usually folks buy them canned unless they live where there grow, and then one usually does not see them in the marketplace fresh.
@mstodaker They are wild or naturalized plants you can eat.
I love loquats, but I can't find them where I live. I haven't eaten them in years
I wish this guy would come back.
I've been posting new videos. Trying to do one a week now.
@@greendeane1 You are a legend.
@FFarmerCharlie It's on my website.
Japanese Plums grow wild where you live? You must live in Heaven, or Florida. They grow pretty easily around here, but can't say I ever saw them just growning where they felt like growing.
@teeninja323 About five or six weeks but that is from first edibility to shriveled and dry.
Where do I find out how to use the leaves and the medicinal uses? PS the birds LOVE them too...now, just to teach the birds how to pick up the seeds lol
I found a link on here, but I would like your input. Thanks
Almond flavors, i hear, come from if you roast the seeds prior to adding to the liquor. i may try both methods to see if there is a difference
Perhaps but it would be involved whereas there are many other seeds that are extremely deadly, some immediately and some not immediately but for which there is no antidote.
Thanks for uploading this episode. Is there any chance that you will do a segment on the queen palm?
I make tea from the leaves too. I love it. Losing weight and nails growing super fast! Does anyone else make tea?
+Patti P
I have diabetes type 2 and have read loquat tea is good for my disease. Have you heard anything about this? And how do you make your tea? The way I made it once was to simply rinse off the leaves with water..cut leaves into very small pieces..boil for about 20-30 minutes depending on how strong you want it..boil longer if you want it stronger..then pour the liquid through a coffee filter after it has cooled off. This way you don't have to scrub the leaves and your tea will be ultra pure and clean. Problem is..I keep forgetting to make it again..lol.
Interesting and informative!! Thx for this video.
seeds can be grown.
I love loquats
I have a couple of these around my area, when I was little I thought they were figs :D
@ericladnier Yeah, I'm in Florida and the darned things grow everywhere.
@JohnElwaymaniac Marijuana and I parted company some 35 years ago, though I see it quite often in a particular environment. And if the roots of some Elephant Ears are properly processed they are edible. As for revelations... I've had a few. And marriage... always presumed it would happen but it never did. Lifelong bachelor. I've accepted that and moved on. Heck, I'm not even sure I've dated in this century....
@Farfromhere001 This is a topic that comes up time to time, and it is a diffiicult one. I recently heard a professor say 75% of all plants are toxic to man. Some 5 to 10% are edible and in between is some 15 to 20% that can go either way. And what is toxic? Thiings that just make you sick or can kill you in a few hours with no hope of survival? Then there is the legal liability and the fact that people could mistake a toxic plant fo an edible because that is what I usually cover.
Awesome
You're making it up as you go along.
sooooo good.
@EatTheWeeds Nowadays watching youtube would be encompased under watching tv. In fact people might watch your show through their television.
Loquats are normally only found as far north as Georgia, but if you were to grow it in a greenhouse or in a container that you bring inside for the winter freezes, you should have no problem growing it in Kentucky.
-Ten
oldescrubland.blogspot.com/2012/06/loquat-eriobotrya-japonica.html
Malta Plum!!
he should be on pbs
No, 20F is about as low as they can go and survive.
@geraldlee33 Send a picture? Or log onto the garden forum and go to Name That Plant site.
You may have addressed this already but I didn't see it in the comments. You said, and I have heard before, that one shouldn't eat the seeds of many fruits in this family because something in them is metabolized in the human body into cyanide. But then you you soak them in alcohol and make a liqueur from them. Obviously it's safe because you've been doing it for 8-9 years, if I heard you correctly. Can you enlighten me on this topic?
@ytfp Life sometimes gets in the way of living.
any way you could send me some of those seeds? i would love to try to raise some of those trees i havnt seen any of those here in ky
Dean green my loquat tree did not do very well last year. Year before it was abundant with large seeds now this year 2022, it is producing mediocre amounts of fruit but in spite of them being super sweet they do not contain any speeds and at all. can you tell me why
hello.. i just discovered a grumichama cherry tree which is putting out some young fruit and wonder if you know anything about it? i also have loquats! this video was very informative thank you. how do you make that wine?
@thisblender Oh yeah, that's how it spreads so easily.
@destroyahdes Sure, just don't ferment it.
You segment on wild psychoactive and toxic plants such as Datura, Lobelia, Lettuce Opium, etc.
Don't they use almond extract in cherry pies?
I need to find out what type of plant a friend of mine has growing in their garden, how do I do that.
I like that drink, and I think you could go further with this concept. Maybe you should do a video called drinktheweeds followed up on an epsiode called smoketheweeds. Lol, but seriously.
the "grappa" is also called Nespolino
Conrad Wheeler: what about the cyanide inside the seeds?
@pinkytm1 fascinating...
Its been awhile since a post dean drop us a note please :) Let us know how things are going for you. TY
Mabey with global warming people will consider cultivating this very healthy friut!
Dean, thank you! Quite informative. What about pruning, topping and tipping? I want to keep mine small since I do not have a lot of space.
The fruit best when shaped like an upright bowl.... think a martini glass...
Green Deane
Thank you Deane!
Yes, mine looks like an oversized champagne flute. Sooooo cool. Now I wait for fruit, probably next year.
I got to know loquat 2 weeks ago. Someone had a bucket full of them, I took 5 of them, then forgot. I alway leave fruit behind. a toast cheese and tomato is better, isn't it?
I am ashamed I did not know loquat. tasted a bit of one, i think i like them. I tend to make a bunch out of apricots, plums, peaches cause i am sort of allergic. But these are different I think.
i am not acquainted to know new fruit, like I don't really like fruit. Maybe it is just the commercial fruit i do not like.
realizing perhaps have to wait 1 year to see loquats again
Great video Mr. Green Dean! After you strain and put in the sugar water how long should it sit with the cinnamon?
To personal taste.
Have you tried aciduated water to keep them from turning color? I wonder if that might work.
How can you take advantage of the medicinal value in the leaves?
can you grow a loquat tree from a seed?
Regarding the grappa made with the loquat seeds: what about the cyanide inside the seeds?
I know that the grappa with the sugar water added can be sipped like a liquor with only the expected effects. I would not, however, drink a cup of it.
Green Deane : :) I don't drink, but I like cherries and cherry flavoring. The way you described your 'grappa' was curious and appetizing. Perhaps I shouldn't start drinking now.
I just planted a seven foot loquat tree (because my grandmother had a tree), and I'm excited to get as much as I can from this tree.
I appreciate the information in your videos and you taking the time to respond to my question.
Gerald :)
a very good question
@mstodaker What's a halo video?
@DenniszVideos think tart peach
@EatTheWeeds How about psychoactive plants then? Like Datura, Passiflora and Lettuce Opium?
How well does the grappa store at room temperature?
Could one of these be grown indoors in a solarium?
@DenniszVideos Protected inside perhaps.....
Wolly twigs, that's right.
Let me guess, you're getting weed killer adverts on your website lol.