Santa Rosa

[alanmercieca]

Cultivar name: Ta' Santa Rosa
Synonyms: None
Origin: Republic of Malta
Age: This variety has been in Malta before 1888.
Fruit Size: Medium to large fruit, sometimes just over 1 kilogram, there is at least one version of this variety that has small fruit.
Hull color: A beautiful deep yellow, generally it has a large blotch on one side where the most sun hits, that blotch is a mix of several different shades of rose at once, with a touch of red, sometimes that color is so strong that it becomes impossible/virtually impossible to see the deep yellow from that part of the fruit.
Aril size: Medium-small.
Aril color: Can be one or two different shades of rose that darkens as the fruit ripens (pink rose to red rose), arils are noticeably transparent, yet they can get a red rose that is almost black, as the ripening season comes to an end.
Ease of aril removal: a majority of the arils are sort of easy to remove from the fruit.
Seed hardness: is slightly soft, almost easy to chew but not to digest.
Seed size: seed stones inside the arils are small.
Flavor profile: Sweet with some bitterness, although if perfectly ripe, then the bitterness goes away.
Taste: A unique delicate flavor, with a very vague pomegranate like flavor.
Hardiness: To be determined.

Notes: This variety is decent/best consumed fresh. It appears to be great for making sweets and okay for Juicing as well, less juicy than 'Santa Katerina'.

The shape of the fruit often resembles that of a Jelly fish. The skin splits open somewhat easily.The size of the fruit is generally smaller than the French one and noticeably smaller than the extra large sized pomegranates. Most productive pomegranate in Malta, a lot of people still appear to have this variety. The bark of this variety has a unique bleached tan look.

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

Photo I took in Malta of a fruit earlier in the season, taken September 29th 2019.

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Photos sent to me of fruit after I left Malta, near the end of the season, taken October 22nd 2019.

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Photo sent to me of fruit after I left Malta, at the end of the season, taken Wednesday, November 13, 2019.

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Photo I took in Malta of a fruit cut open earlier in the season, taken September 29th 2019.

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Photo sent to me of fruit cut open after I left Malta, near the end of the season, taken October 22nd 2019.

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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 22nd 2019.

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The last pomegranate from this tree the arils were darker and there was no bitterness left. Photos sent to me of the arils after I left Malta at the end of the season, taken Wednesday, November 13, 2019.

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