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Do you know your Pluot from your Plumcot and your Oroblanco from your Tangelo?
Over the past few decades, botanists, horticulturalists, and biologists have all had their hand in crossing fruit varieties looking for the perfect colour, shelf life, storage and size, to developing sought after and surprising tastes in fruit. You may have started noticing strange sounding and looking fruits appearing at the market or in the supermarket or been confused when you bit into a peacotum.
Hybrid fruit is fortunately nothing to do with GMO and it looks like it's here to stay. We thought it was time to put some descriptions to the pictures in a line up of 10 popular fruits so you don't miss out.
1) Pineberry
Photo: Michael Camilleri/Flickr
This distinctive looking berry may look like a variety of strawberry with its white flesh studded with red seeds, but it actually smells and tastes like a pineapple. Confusing.
2) Plumcot
Photo: Johan Bryggare/Flickr
These are the first generation descendants of a natural 50:50 apricot and plum cross, a true plumcot should be exactly half of each. With tender and juicy flesh the plumcot has the shape, size and aroma of an apricot but the rich flavour of a plum.
3) Rangpur
Photo: Forest Starr and Kim Starr/Flickr
A hybrid between a mandarin orange and a lemon, the skin appears to be like an orange and the interior known to be very acidic making it a good substitute for a lime.
4) Tayberry
A cross between a blackberry and a red raspberry, this berry was invented in Scotland and is named afer the river Tay. Whilst it has the size of a big raspberry it has the sweetness of a blackberry.
5) Peacotum
Photo: John Loos/Flickr
Peach/apricot/plum combo, this is a tripple fruit whammy and a mellow tasting fruit with the texture of a peach and taste somewhere between a plum and an apricot.
6) Tangelo
Photo: Forest and Kim Starr/Flickr
A citrus fruit hybrid of a tangerine and a pomelo or grapefruit. Prized for its juciness Tangelos have a mild sweet flavour.
7) Limequat
Key lime crossed with kumquat this fruit has a sweet skin that can be eaten and a bitter pulp inside making them ideal for jams and chutneys.
8) Blood Lime
Photo: CSIRO
A cross between a red finger lime and an Ellendale mandarin. blood limes are a fantastic colour lending themselves well to garnishes, and the sweet tangy flavour also works well in jams and marmalades.
9) Oroblanco
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
A sweet seedless citrus hybrid of a pomelo and a white grapefruit the oroblanco is tender and juicy lacking the bitterness of grapefruit.
10) Nectacot
Photo: courtesy of Appetite for Discovery
No prizes for what you get when you cross an apricot with a nectarine. Looking more like an apricot the flavour is more reminiscent of a nectarine.
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