Calling on Woodchip

Tunnelcat · Post by **Tunnelcat** » Mon Jul 13, 2009 11:38 am

Ok Woodchip (since you started it) and any other plant expert, figure out the name of THIS tree.

Clue: It's NOT indigenous to the U.S., but was transplanted here a long time ago and it's NOT a cherry tree. The fruit is about 1 inch in diameter and can either be yellow or deep red when it's ripe, depending on the variety. It makes excellent jam and pies.

Krom · Post by **Krom** » Mon Jul 13, 2009 11:54 am

If you want to give a proper sense of scale, do what I do and put a quarter next to the subject.

Duper · Post by **Duper** » Mon Jul 13, 2009 1:56 pm

Looks like a crab apple or a plum.

Foil · Post by **Foil** » Mon Jul 13, 2009 3:32 pm

Gotta be a Key Lime.

Tunnelcat · Post by **Tunnelcat** » Mon Jul 13, 2009 4:49 pm

Krom wrote:If you want to give a proper sense of scale, do what I do and put a quarter next to the subject.

I know Krom, I wasn't thinking when I took it. If you REALLY want, I'll take another picture. The fruit is about about the size of a quarter, small and cherry-sized and that's the full size when ripe. It's green because it's not ripe yet, not until August.

It's not a Key Lime Foil, too cold in Oregon. You're getting warm Duper.

Another clue:

The tree comes from central and eastern Europe and central Asia and flowers in February.

Dedman · Post by **Dedman** » Mon Jul 13, 2009 7:15 pm

It looks like a loquat.

QuestionableChaos · Post by **QuestionableChaos** » Mon Jul 13, 2009 7:35 pm

Dedman wrote:It looks like a loquat.

my guess too - i had a loquat tree in my parents backyard years ago when i was really young, and the leaves looked just like that iirc. my dad managed to kill it before it fruited though

Tunnelcat · Post by **Tunnelcat** » Mon Jul 13, 2009 9:59 pm

Duper's closest.

Duper · Post by **Duper** » Mon Jul 13, 2009 10:51 pm

hm. Then I'd have to say an unripe asian pear? But it really looks like some kinda plum from the shape. Just green still.

Ok,, with some lookin around, I'd say Inca plum?

woodchip · Post by **woodchip** » Tue Jul 14, 2009 12:43 pm

Some variant of the Hawthorn?

Lothar · Post by **Lothar** » Tue Jul 14, 2009 3:47 pm

We had two crabapple trees in our yard growing up that produced fruit that looked just like that, both yellow-green and deep red, though it was rare to reach an inch in diameter (half an inch was common.)

I would guess it's something from the Malus genus. The leaf looks right, the fruit looks right, the \"excellent jams and pies\" sounds right, and I think they can grow in Oregon just as easily as in Colorado.

Tunnelcat · Post by **Tunnelcat** » Tue Jul 14, 2009 5:38 pm

Good Duper, it's a plum. But what variety? It looks like a cherry on the outside in size, shape and color when ripe, but the inside, it looks and tastes like a plum. Really odd.

Zantor · Post by **Zantor** » Wed Jul 15, 2009 10:19 am

tunnelcat wrote:Good Duper, it's a plum. But what variety? It looks like a cherry on the outside in size, shape and color when ripe, but the inside, it looks and tastes like a plum. Really odd.

Cherry Plum?

Tunnelcat · Post by **Tunnelcat** » Wed Jul 15, 2009 4:42 pm

I bet you guessed.

CHERRY PLUM

Hiking around a 100 year old farm orchard near by home that's now mostly wild and overgrown, I came across these trees. There must be at least a dozen of them scattered throughout the woods. Most are red plums, but one or two are the yellow varieties. The yellow ones are sour, but the red ones make scrumptious pies that taste just like cherry after you bake them. Mmmmmmmm, pie!

I'd never seen this type of plum before and wasn't sure it even WAS a plum until I did some detective work. Nobody bothers to pick them, they all go after the blackberries. But they're missing a treat!

Tunnelcat · Post by **Tunnelcat** » Sat Jul 25, 2009 4:16 pm

You guys are probably getting bored with this one, but these things have started ripening in the heat, so I thought I'd post a pic of 2 varieties I've found, a large purple cherry plum and a smaller red version. They both look the same inside. Just made a pie out of the purple ones today. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm, smells wonderful!

woodchip · Post by **woodchip** » Mon Jul 27, 2009 7:00 am

Heh TC, I didn't think anyone made pies from scratch anymore. Last time I had a real home made pie was 40 years ago. a friend and I picked some apples out of a tree in the state park we worked in. Took the apples to his grandmother of which she made the pies. Crust, filler and everything else home made.

Today it seems home made entails buying the crust pre-made and the apples/filler are in a can. So kudos TC, if you can make the whole pie without pre-made parts.

Valin Halcyon · Post by **Valin Halcyon** » Mon Jul 27, 2009 12:11 pm

I bake pies from scratch. I'm particularly known for my pumpkin pie...which is a pain to make, because preparing the pumpkin takes so much time. Aside from Pumpkin, I make apple, sometimes cherry, strawberry and some others... It's not hard to make them. Just make a few dozen pie crusts in advance and freeze them. Then you can pop one out whenever you get a good filling to load in them.

Just a note of caution though, pie crusts from scratch are murder on electric mixers. So either get a really high power one, or go to the gym for a few weeks before hand mixing.

Spaceboy · Post by **Spaceboy** » Mon Jul 27, 2009 3:14 pm

I haven't had a storebought pie for years. It's easy enough making homebaked pies. They taste alot better too once you get'em right.

Tunnelcat · Post by **Tunnelcat** » Mon Jul 27, 2009 3:56 pm

woodchip wrote:Heh TC, I didn't think anyone made pies from scratch anymore. Last time I had a real home made pie was 40 years ago. a friend and I picked some apples out of a tree in the state park we worked in. Took the apples to his grandmother of which she made the pies. Crust, filler and everything else home made.

Today it seems home made entails buying the crust pre-made and the apples/filler are in a can. So kudos TC, if you can make the whole pie without pre-made parts.

Actually, I got lazy this time. I used those pre-made refrigerated crusts that are rolled up, but not the crappy frozen stuff pressed into the pie tin. They're easy, you just let them warm up, unroll them and use one for the top and one for the bottom.

However, I normally make my crusts from lard, really bad for you, but the taste can't be beat! I figure I don't eat pie that much, so what the heck, live a little! Also, I found a thickener called 'Clear Gel' that works like a charm, even on juicy berry pies. Takes all the guesswork out of things.

Spidey · Post by **Spidey** » Mon Jul 27, 2009 5:06 pm

I eat a lot of humble pie.

woodchip · Post by **woodchip** » Tue Jul 28, 2009 6:22 am

Well I am pleased that the pie making art is not lost. Now set one of those bad boys on your widow sill to cool so I can sneak by and grab it

Tunnelcat · Post by **Tunnelcat** » Tue Jul 28, 2009 9:49 am

I don't think it would cool down on my windowsill. We're having a heat wave here, 100 degrees yesterday and it's supposed to be over 100 for the next 2 or 3 days! Aaaaaaaaaaah! In fact, I could put a raw uncooked pie in the sun and it would BAKE all by itself. In fact it's sooooo hot, I've had to put my cactus collection in the shade to keep from frying them in their pots.

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