BLACKBERRY JAM FRUIT

Aren't fruits amazing? Do you love blackberry jam? Well, here is a fruit that quite literally tastes like blackberry jam, without having to add anything.

  Randia formosa is a rare tropical to subtropical fruit, growing as a small evergreen bushy shrub, usually only 4-5 ft tall in the ground and 3-4 ft in container. It can be also trained into a miniature tree. The plant is closely related to gardenia and produces 1.5-2" star shaped, very fragrant, tubular white flowers that attract nocturnal moths. Olive-shaped yellow fruits are woody shelled, about 1" size and look like small loquats. They can be easily crushed between teeth. The fruit contains two cells with small flat seeds surrounded by sweet black soft pulp tasting like "blackberry jam", beloved of children and adults.

  There isn't a ton of information to find on this plant, its fruit and the health benefits and nutritional value of the blackberry jam fruit. But it is delicious, and can literally be spread on bread as a jam. The bush is fairly cold tolerant and can withstand temperatures all the way down to the mid 20's (Fahrenheit), although flowers, leaves and fruit are sensitive to both cold and wind, and will often fall off, if the temperature drops too low. 

  Fruit times can vary greatly but this tree can fruit all year and, as with other members of the coffee family, you will see both fruit and flowers at the same time, and fruiting can be triggered by periods of heavy rains, drought or temperature changes. In the tropics, many fruit trees, including this, tend to flower and start their fruits in the "cooler" months of January and February, when nighttime temperatures can go down to between 65 and 70 degrees Fahrenheit.

  Generally, you will need more than one tree to produce fruit - and with this one, the more the better, as this fruit truly is amazing and something to wow people with.