Tamarillo: what kind of fruit, how it is eaten and grown with a photo

A few years ago, many people had not even heard of tamarillo. However, today this fruit is quite popular among gardeners. You can grow it in a greenhouse or outdoors. From one tomato tree, you can harvest 10-15 kg of crop. Before planting this plant, you need to familiarize yourself with how tamarillos are grown and eaten.

Description

The fruit is native to South and Central America, but currently its largest producer is New Zealand. It is from there that a large number of tomato fruits are exported.

The plant is quite tall and can grow up to 3-4 meters. Its fruits look like ordinary tomatoes. They have a smooth surface with an oval shape, like a chicken egg, and a sweetish taste. The fruits are about 5 cm wide and 10-15 cm long.

There are several main varieties of tamarilla:

Red. This variety is one of the most popular. The fruits of the plant have reddish seeds, orange-colored flesh and dark red skin. Fruit can be used not only for cooking various dishes, but also for decoration.
Golden. The fruits are quite juicy and fleshy. They are much larger than the other varieties.
Yellow. The size of the fruits of yellow tamarillo is not very large. Their main advantage is the taste, as these fruits are much sweeter than the red and golden varieties.

All varieties of this plant are not afraid of insects and are resistant to many diseases.

Useful properties

The fruit contains a large number of useful elements, trace elements and vitamins.Tamarillo can be used as a substitute for many other fruits. The fruits of the plant contain a lot of iron, magnesium, calcium, potassium, phosphorus, vitamins A and C. They also lack sodium and cholesterol.

Tamarillo is quite often used to reduce dizziness and headaches during neurological genesis.

Features of cultivation

To understand how to plant a tomato tree correctly, you need to familiarize yourself with the features of this process.

Planting seedlings

Before planting, you need to get seeds. Tamarillo is a hybrid and it is impossible to grow seeds on your own, so you have to buy them. It is recommended to plant them for seedlings in mid-February.

First, planting material is treated with a 1% solution of potassium permanganate. To do this, it is placed in liquid for several hours, after which you can start planting. Seeds should be placed in a pot at a distance of 2-4 cm from each other.Then they are covered with plastic wrap. Growing seedlings should be carried out in a warm room with a temperature of at least 25-30 degrees. The first leaves on the seedlings will appear within a few weeks.

Outdoor planting

Seedlings should only be planted when their height is more than one meter. Most often, seedlings grow to this size by early July or late May. The site for the tomato tree should be well lit and protected from strong drafts.

Before planting seedlings, it is necessary to fertilize the soil.A little mineral fertilizer and humus should be added to it. Also, near future holes, you need to install special pegs for tying bushes. If several tomato trees are planted, then the distance between them should be about 80-90 cm.

Care

To get large and tasty fruits, you need to properly care for the plant.

Irrigation and fertilization

You need to regularly water your tomato tree. In cool weather, it is enough to water the fruit once a week. On hot summer days, the plant should be watered more often - 2-3 times a week.

To feed the soil, you can use liquid fertilizer for tomatoes. If necessary, you can add long-acting drugs to it.

Cutting

Pruning a tomato tree should be done constantly. One year after the first fruiting, the tomarillo must be cut so that its height does not exceed one meter. This will help the branches of the plant develop better.

In order for new shoots to appear more often, you need to annually get rid of branches that have already produced fruit.

You can prune a tree both in spring and autumn. If you do this in early spring, then the fruits will ripen much earlier.

Eating

Tamarillo is quite often used in cooking, but some do not know how to eat it. Fruit is not only eaten fresh. You can eat tamarillo with meat baked in the oven or with onions fried in a pan. The fruit slices are used to make sandwiches and toppings for pizza, pies, stews and lasagna.

Tamarillo is often added to soups, sauces, appetizers, salads and purees. It can also be used to create desserts: yogurt, jam, juice, marmalade, mousse.

However, many prefer to eat it raw. To do this, the fruits must be peeled, as it has an unpleasant taste. To quickly get rid of it, the fruit must be put in hot water for 5 minutes. After that, the skin can be easily removed with a knife. If you do not want to remove the peel, then it will be enough to cut the fresh fruit into two equal parts and scoop out its pulp with a spoon.

Conclusion

Tomato tree Tamarillo has juicy and fleshy fruits. Growing it is pretty easy. A person who familiarizes himself with the features of planting and caring for him in advance will grow a tamarillo without any problems.