A banner year for loquats

Hello loquat! Where have you been all my life? Oh, yeah. I remember. You are that little ornamental tree that occupied a corner of my neighbor’s yard forever. But this year, you outdid yourself, and then you staged a coup of my heart and my taste buds.

Indeed, this has been a banner year for those Japanese plums (Eriobotrya japonica), often called loquats. The little trees are loaded with fruits. And if I’d overlooked them in the past, it was only because at this time of year, we're trying to make use of the last of the earlier fruiting citrus and getting ready to harvest the Valencias.

But with citrus greening having decimated our dooryard mixed grove of citrus, the ability to pick any fresh fruit has become a novelty. Then, lo and behold, I discovered those previously neglected loquats. And they are good. I mean really good. Yeah, they are small (about 1 to 2 inches around) and have big seeds, but so what?

A combination of apricot being the primary flavor, tinged with a bit of mango and maybe peach too, those little gems are scrumptious. One neighbor makes pies of them, and I just discovered they make exceptional jam.

To prepare it, I halved each, cut away any dark spots and the dark blossom end, popped out the seeds — they have one to four per fruit — and then gave them a few pulses in the food processor to chop them coarsely. The reason for this is that loquats do not break down during the cooking process like peaches or apricots would. I used the recipe for apricot jam found in the box of fruit pectin, and the whole batch came together in a surprisingly short amount of time.That jam is destined to be one of our family favorites.

Loquats can be frozen for use later, or dried in a dehydrator for tasty snacks anytime. And yeah, I just bought a loquat and planted it for our use, though neighbors have been generous with the fruits from their trees.

Incredibly easy to grow, loquats don’t seem to ask for much. A place in the sun and good drainage are just about it. Seriously. Those trees just thrive on neglect, and I expect if one were pampered a bit it would repeat bountiful harvests every spring. Drought-tolerant, the fruits of these subtropical trees can be damaged by freezing temperatures.

Loquats are native to Japan and China and grow to about 25 feet tall. They bloom in the late fall through February, and the fruit matures this time of the year, a welcome addition to fruit salads, pies, jams and jellies and even prepared as a dried fruit.

The evergreen trees have handsome, glossy leathery leaves that are reported to posses healthful properties on their own. According to Wikipedia, in Japan, loquat leaves are dried to make a mild beverage known as biwa cha by brewing them using the traditional Japanese method. Biwa cha is held to beautify skin and heal inflammatory skin conditions such as psoriasis and eczema and to heal chronic respiratory conditions such as bronchitis.

The fruits grow in clusters and are ready to pick when they are a soft apricot-orange color.

As for nutritional values, loquats are low in saturated fat and sodium and is high in vitamin A, dietary fiber, potassium and manganese. And here’s a fact to note, the fruits have a mild sedative effect if enough of them are consumed. A cure for insomnia? At any rate, they make a great late-night snack.

All this beauty, deliciousness and ease of care in a highly ornamental tree that produces tasty fruits with abandon and get this — there are no pest problems to worry about when it comes to loquats.

Anyone who has tried to grow peaches or apples here knows that every critter within a hundred miles seems to sniff out those trees and either destroys or steals the fruit. Loquats are just about as easy as it can get.