Monstera bloom and eating.

From: mburack at mindspring.com> on 2002.07.30 at 06:10:45(9132) Well- I have grown Monstera deliciosa in my landscaping for a couple of years now and it hasnt ever bloomed. Finally there are many inflors opening. All I can say is "YIKES"!!!! I thought only Amorphophallus made gigantic infloresences!!! Those things are BIG! and the spathe feels like it is made out of cast iron! Does anyone know (Julius?) how you go about eating the so-called "breadfruit"? I would like to give it a try, but at the same time I have no desire to poison myself :)))) ! Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks! Marc

From: "Michael Pascall" mickpascall at hotmail.com> on 2002.07.30 at 20:16:19(9135) It will take approx one year to ripen ! When it starts to drop down from the vertical , keep an eye on it . Pick only when the scales at the base start to lift away .Then only eat about a half inch at a time . Only as much as is exposed by the scales falling away by them selves . Place standing up in a large jar or glass coverd by a paperbag . I used to have over a dozen all lined up , yum yum . Michael Pascall, WHYANBEEL ARBORETUM,F.N.Q,AUSTRALIA +More _________________________________________________________________ Send and receive Hotmail on your mobile device: http://mobile.msn.com

From: MossyTrail at cs.com on 2002.07.30 at 20:17:33(9139) In a message dated 7/29/2002 11:13:44 PM Pacific Daylight Time, mburack@mindspring.com writes: Does anyone know (Julius?) how you go about eating the so-called "breadfruit"? As a matter of fact, yes. After cutting the fruit from the vine, tip it upside down into an empty jar. As it ripens, the green "scales" will fall off; dispose of these. The flesh revealed underneath will be yellowish-white and sweetly fragrant. Jason Hernandez +More Naturalist-at-Large

From: Lewandjim at aol.com on 2002.07.31 at 02:22:12(9147) In a message dated 7/30/2002 4:19:20 PM Eastern Daylight Time, mickpascall@hotmail.com writes: It will take approx one year to ripen ! When it starts to drop down from the vertical , keep an eye on it . Pick only when the scales at the base start to lift away .Then only eat about a half inch at a time . Only as much as is exposed by the scales falling away by them selves . Place standing up in a large jar or glass coverd by a paperbag . I used to have over a dozen all lined up , yum yum . Michael's instructions may be "best" but in the Indiana University greenhouses, we waited until the conservatory smelled like "strawberry shortcake" - THEN the Monstera fruit was ripe! Jim Langhammer

From: "Julius Boos" ju-bo at msn.com> on 2002.07.31 at 02:22:23(9148) Dear Friends, Michael is correct as it will take about a full year to mature! I have a large clump of this wonderful plant covering an old tree-stump in my front yard, I grew it from a seed collected at Jim Enck`s home here in WPB a few years ago when we visited Jim and his collection during 'Lord Phallus'" (Wilbert Hetterschied`s) visit to S. Florida, great memories! The fruit on my plant occur in clusters, the eldest at the base ripens first, and I generally 'give' this to the bugs and critters, but it is a sign that the next in line will ripen in about a week, so when upon checking on a daily basis I see the very first layer of scales at the top of the peduncle (or the base of the spadix/fruit) begin to 'lift', I cut this fruit off at the base of the peduncle, wrap the entire fruit in saran (plastic) wrap, and put it on the kitchen counter. The saran wrap causes the entire spadix to ripen at the same time (in about a couple/three of days, I keep a close watch on it!) , thus providing a substantial amount of substance to savor all at the same time. Look out for the few large seeds concealed in the soft, mushy flesh, they are about the size of a large pea, don`t bite into one! Some clones have these seeds, some do not. Good luck! Julius +More >>It will take approx one year to ripen ! When it starts to drop down from the vertical , keep an eye on it . Pick only when the scales at the base start to lift away .Then only eat about a half inch at a time . Only as much as is exposed by the scales falling away by them selves . Place standing up in a large jar or glass coverd by a paperbag . I used to have over a dozen all lined up , yum yum . Michael Pascall, WHYANBEEL ARBORETUM,F.N.Q,AUSTRALIA _________________________________________________________________ Send and receive Hotmail on your mobile device: http://mobile.msn.com

From: MossyTrail at cs.com on 2002.07.31 at 14:26:08(9149) In a message dated 7/30/2002 7:25:21 PM Pacific Daylight Time, ju-bo@msn.com writes: The saran wrap causes the entire spadix to ripen at the same time (in about a couple/three of days, I keep a close watch on it!) , thus providing a substantial amount of substance to savor all at the same time. Look out for the few large seeds concealed in the soft, mushy flesh, they are about the size of a large pea, don`t bite into one! +More Huh. My empty-jar method, with no saran wrap, also gave me a fruit all ripened at the same time. I must have had a seedless clone -- possibly selected for that trait, as it was a commercially-produced fruit for the produce trade. Jason Hernandez Naturalist-at-Large

From: "Julius Boos" ju-bo at msn.com> on 2002.08.01 at 04:37:53(9158) ----- Original Message ----- From: MossyTrail@cs.com +More To: Multiple recipients of list AROID-L Sent: Wednesday, July 31, 2002 10:26 AM Subject: Re: Monstera bloom and eating. In a message dated 7/30/2002 7:25:21 PM Pacific Daylight Time, ju-bo@msn.com writes: My GUESS is that both Jason`s 'empty jar' method and the saran-wrap method may concentrate the pheromones ( ? ) released by ripening fruit at the spadix`s base, which may then cause all the fruit the whole length of the spadix to ripen together. If not wrapped or placed in a jar, the fruit on the spadix may ripen only a few at a time as described by one of the other contributors, and this does not provide a lot of fruit ready to eat all at once. I THINK we discussed the possible 'strategy' or the 'why' of this amount of fruit tissue being produced without seed a while ago, and how the plant may benifit from this. I believe my theory was that there used to be now-extinct big herbivores in Mexico/Cen. America that probably used to eat the whole ripe spadix, seed and all, or perhaps paleo-man did some selection for clones that demonstrated less or a seedless condition, much like was done with bananas. We may never know! Julius Boos >>The saran wrap causes the entire spadix to ripen at the same time (in about a couple/three of days, I keep a close watch on it!) , thus providing a substantial amount of substance to savor all at the same time. Look out for the few large seeds concealed in the soft, mushy flesh, they are about the size of a large pea, don`t bite into one! Huh. My empty-jar method, with no saran wrap, also gave me a fruit all ripened at the same time. I must have had a seedless clone -- possibly selected for that trait, as it was a commercially-produced fruit for the produce trade. Jason Hernandez Naturalist-at-Large <<

From: MossyTrail at cs.com on 2002.08.02 at 05:59:08(9171) In a message dated 7/31/2002 9:42:21 PM Pacific Daylight Time, ju-bo@msn.com writes: I believe my theory was that there used to be now-extinct big herbivores in Mexico/Cen. America that probably used to eat the whole ripe spadix, seed and all, "Neotropical Anachronisms: The fruits the Gompotheres ate." I believe the author is Dan Janzen? currently residing in Costa Rica. I really need to order that article for my archives.... Jason Hernandez +More Naturalist-at-Large

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