Aril Removal Champion

[greenfig]

What varieties were represented? Was there a taste test? Any ratings available?

As far as fresh-eating, the festival is lacking. All the pomegranates I have purchased at the festival have been Wonderful (or at least some semi-tart medium seed hardness variety). My goal is to setup a booth and let people try the different varieties. I currently have 9 varieties growing at home (Wonderful, Early Wonderful, Ambrosia, Parfianka, Eversweet, Desertnyi, Angel Red, Sharp Velvet, Sirenvyi) and I should have enough fruit to setup a stand in a couple years. Right now, the focus at the festival seems to be different products you can make with pomegranates rather than different cultivars for fresh eating.

Sorry, it’s a bit not on the topic but I was curious about your taste feedback for Sirenevyi and Sharp Velvet

[Eykca]

You know I just bought those two large varieties from Mainstreet Trees. (Shameless plug for which I gain nothing. It's appointment only but you MUST check this place out in Napa if you get a chance. Think secret garden crossed with pomegranate enthusiast. She has over 50 varieties of poms and tons of other species.) Anyways, she gave me a a couple Sirenevyi and Sharp Velvet fruits to try. I'll hold off commenting on the sharp velvet because I think it was under-ripe, but the Sirenevyi was a first for me.

I've never been so excited/not excited about a tree of mine. I personally didn't particularly care for the taste. The arils re large and a beautiful blush pink. I can only speak for the fruit I had, but it had a light sweet taste, completely devoid of any sour/tart. I've never read anybody else's review, but it reminded me of watermelon (which,again, i'm not a huge fan of). So why be excited about it? My daughter LOVED it. She eats a lot of Wonderful but she made it very clear she didn't want "the red ones" anymore, she wanted "the pink one". She's only 3 and I have a 1 yo son, so I think they'll both really like the mild sweet taste.

[greenfig]

Thanks for the Sirenevyi description. It reminds me an Iranian Yazd we sampled a few months ago. My son said it tasted like gummy bears
It was also pink and without any acidity

[alanmercieca]

You know I just bought those two large varieties from Mainstreet Trees. (Shameless plug for which I gain nothing. It's appointment only but you MUST check this place out in Napa if you get a chance. Think secret garden crossed with pomegranate enthusiast. She has over 50 varieties of poms and tons of other species.) Anyways, she gave me a a couple Sirenevyi and Sharp Velvet fruits to try. I'll hold off commenting on the sharp velvet because I think it was under-ripe, but the Sirenevyi was a first for me.

I've never been so excited/not excited about a tree of mine. I personally didn't particularly care for the taste. The arils re large and a beautiful blush pink. I can only speak for the fruit I had, but it had a light sweet taste, completely devoid of any sour/tart. I've never read anybody else's review, but it reminded me of watermelon (which,again, i'm not a huge fan of). So why be excited about it? My daughter LOVED it. She eats a lot of Wonderful but she made it very clear she didn't want "the red ones" anymore, she wanted "the pink one". She's only 3 and I have a 1 yo son, so I think they'll both really like the mild sweet taste.

The actual taste of 'Sirenevyi' sounds a lot like the 'Santa Katerina' variety that I listed in the cultivators section of this forum, yet I would not call 'Santa Katerina' mild flavored. Looking at photos of 'Sirenevyi' it's clearly not 'Santa Katerina', I wonder just how alike the berries of these two varieties are.