Santa Katerina

[alanmercieca]

Cultivar name: Ta' Santa Katerina
Synonyms: Santa Catarina, Caterina
Origin: Republic of Malta
Age: This variety has been in Malta since before 1888.
Fruit Size: Medium to large, sometimes just over 1 kilogram/yet some strains of this variety have only small fruit
Hull color: Unattractive light green to green color, often freckled with brown, colored with a blend of brown/the side(s) of the skin that the sun hits strongly can have a semi-attractive reddish/pinkish apple skin like look helping to somewhat hide the ugliness of that side of the fruit, sometimes that color is so strong that it becomes impossible/virtually impossible to see the green from that part of the fruit.
Aril size: Medium or large/yet some strains of this variety have only small arils
Aril color: Ruby pink, ruby red, purplish pink, dark purplish red, depending on how ripe/how much sun hit the fruit/how long on the tree, also you may see more than one of these aril colors in the same fruit, all of those colors have a transparency to them, lighter the color the more transparent.
Ease of aril removal: Arils are so easy to remove from the fruit that a majority of them pretty much just come off in to your hands
Seed hardness: hard to very soft, depending on which version of Santa Katerina
Seed size: Small to medium, very small in some versions.
Flavor profile: Sweet.
Taste: Strong delicious flavor, to me it tastes a lot like a smooth/rich/fine textured watermelon, with a very vague pomegranate like flavor, yet still tastes very unique.
Hardiness: To be determined.

Notes: This variety is a premium variety for eating fresh, and it was considered the best pomegranate in Malta to eat fresh, in the 1920s.

The fruit of this variety keeps well for a long time, and the skin of most of the fruit is unlikely to split.

I will be updating this the more that I learn about this variety.

Photos I took in Malta of a fruit earlier in the season, taken September 29th 2019, not as big as the fruit can get.

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Photos sent to me of fruit after I left Malta, near the end of the season, taken October 27th 2019, not as big as the fruit can get.

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Photo I took in Malta of a fruit cut open earlier in the season, taken September 29th 2019, not as big as the fruit can get.

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Photos sent to me of fruit cut open after I left Malta, near the end of the season, taken October 27th 2019, not as big as the fruit can get.

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Photo I took in Malta of the arils earlier in the season, taken September 29th 2019

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Photo sent to me of the arils after I left Malta, near the end of the season, taken October 27th 2019.

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