FREE: Surinam Cherry Tree Seeds (3)

The listing, Surinam Cherry Tree Seeds (3) has ended.

Surinam Cherry has great adaptability,
The shrub or tree, to 25 ft high, has slender, spreading branches and aromatic foliage. Young plants are damaged by temperatures below 28º F, but well-established plants have suffered only superficial injury at 22º F.The plant revels in full sun. It requires only moderate rainfall and, being deep-rooted, can stand a long dry season.Surinam cherry seedlings grow slowly; begin to fruit when 2 years old. They are most productive if unpruned, but still produce a great many fruits when close-clipped in hedges. Quarterly feeding with a complete fertilizer formula promotes fruiting. So if you live In colder climates you can grow them in pots and keep them in doors just prune them down to size.

The fruits should be picked only when they are so ripe as to fall into the hand at the lightest touch, otherwise they will be undesirably resinous.

Food Uses

For table use, they are best slit vertically on one side, spread open to release the seed(s), and kept chilled for 2 or 3 hours to dispel most of their resinously aromatic character. If seeded and sprinkled with sugar before placing in the refrigerator, they will become mild and sweet and will exude much juice and serve very well instead of strawberries on shortcake and topped with whipped cream. Can be made into pie or sauce or preserved whole in syrup. They are often made into jam, jelly, relish or pickles. Brazilians ferment the juice into vinegar or wine, and distilled liquor.

Other Uses : The leaves when walked upon, they release their pungent oil which repels flies. The bark contains tannin and can be used for treating leather.

Medicinal Uses: In Surinam, the leaf decoction is drunk as a cold remedy and, in combination with lemongrass, as a febrifuge.