Tamarillos
In my Auckland city garden I have established a number of lovely edible landscaping shrubs and trees. Of these, the prolific tamarillo provides a steady crop of ruby egg-shaped fruits throughout the winter months. A wonderful source of vitamin C, tamarillos make their appearance when other fruit can be scarce and adapt to myriad uses – they are delicious stewed, baked, made into jam or chutney and added to crumbles.
In the garden
Provided with a sheltered and frost-free situation, tamarillos are surprisingly easy to cultivate, in fact several plants have already self-seeded in my garden (and the fruit seem to grow true to seed). Make sure they get water over the summer and give them a feed of blood and bone and some potash in the spring. After they have finished fruiting the plants can be pruned, as much as anything to reduce wind damage.
In the kitchen
My favourite post-yoga morning pick-me-up is a divine fresh winter juice made with the flesh of 2 tamarillos, 2 apples and 2 oranges. With its gorgeous colour and lovely zoom of fresh flavour, you can feel the sheer goodness as it goes down. One of the wonderful things about tamarillos is the way they produce a deep rich juice when sprinkled with sugar. This method is known as macerating. It is very easy and macerated tamarillos will keep in the fridge for several days.
These are some of my favourite recipes for tamarillos:
