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Posted on 12/15/2007 8:39:03 AM PST by JACKRUSSELL
YUMBERRY sounds more like the creation of an advertising agency than of nature — like Cherry Garcia or Juicy Fruit. But while the name was dreamed up a few years ago to help sell the fruit’s juice, which is just now appearing in stores around the country, the fruit has been grown for 2,000 years in China. It’s so popular there that about twice as many acres are devoted to growing it as the number devoted to apple orchards in the United States.
The purplish juice has a sweet-tart flavor like a lighter version of pomegranate or mulberry. Like many dark juices, it’s rich in antioxidant compounds, and the first company to market it here, Frützzo, is hoping to ride the booming demand for such products.
“We think yumberry’s the next pomegranate,” said Terry Xanthos, president of Frützzo, based in Alpine, Utah.
In New York, Gristede’s markets will start selling Frützzo brand yumberry juice next week; it’s already available at Meijer stores in the Midwest; in the Southeast, Costco sells a yumberry-pomegranate blend; and Whole Foods stores around the country plan to carry yumberry juice in a month or two. A 12-ounce bottle of Frützzo organic yumberry juice costs about $3.60; the “natural” version (which the company says is pesticide-free) is about $3. The company also offers blends with cherry and blueberry. In addition to Frützzo, several other marketers are planning to introduce yumberry juice next year.
The fresh fruit, called yang-mei, is not yet available for sale in the United States. It is chewy and juicy with a pit like a cherry. Most varieties have a bumpy purple or red surface, like a litchi, although the skin is edible.
There are yang-mei festivals and pick-your-own orchards in the main growing area, Zhejiang province, south of Shanghai. Vendors by the......
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
I recently saw an episode of “Bizarre Foods” on the Travel Channel with Andrew Zimmern gagging his way across East Asia (no fair, only in the durian fruit did he meet his match). There’s all manner of stuff out there we never hear about.
Zimmern is a coward nevertheless, he never once mentions eating dog. I know they do a lot of that in those exotic places.
Does it have lead in it?
I just don't want to think what a Chinese fruit juice company looks like up close, I doubt there version of the FDA is quite as stringent as ours is. I gave up eating canned Mandarin oranges because they were products of China. Drinking them is no better.
$3.60 for 12 ounces? They are going to have to do better than that.
Being that it’s from China, will there be an “unleaded” version available?
Semper Fidelis
Faced with two choices: eat a durian or, eat a spoonfull of egg salad that sat out in the sun for 24 hours, I'd take the egg salad.
He tried Durian fruit, and that is the nastiest stuff I've yet encountered. The taste is roughly like the lower intestines of a road killed opossum thats been lying out in the August heat for about 6 days.
I am very happy to see another fancy flavor coming to my local yuppie supermarket. I am willing to pay a premium price for this so that I can display it on the “holiday” table and impress my yuppie guests as being one of discriminating taste.
...they’ll have to do better than that.
Or maybe just sell it at Starbucks, where the price will seem reasonable by comparison.
YumBerry ... IS PEOPLE!!1!
What in the heck is a litchi??? Never heard of that before. Then again, I’ve never heard of this before, either. Although for 12 oz. at over 3 bucks a piece, it might be quite a while before I shell out to taste it...
Exactly my thoughts... We used to drink Odwalla when we lived in Colorado as it was actually reasonably priced when you bought the big jugs (probably 32 to 40 oz. a piece for around 3 or 4 dollars IIRC)...
Since moving back to the midwest the one place that carries it (Wal-mart) sells it for around $3 for a SMALL serving (probably 12 ounces, just like this new juice). We can’t afford it anymore... We just buy the fresh fruit and make our own now... Plus, then we can make smoothies with it, too! I’m sure they’ll get some buyers as it seems there is always someone willing to pay an arm and a leg for these things...
“What in the heck is a litchi???”
A veritable ambrosia of fruits from out East.
You sure that upper fruit isn’t litchi?
Interesting. We’ve got a few Asian Markets where I live. I’ll have to check and see if they sell this fruit there! :) Thanks for letting us all know!
“The taste is roughly like the lower intestines of a road killed opossum thats been lying out in the August heat for about 6 days.”
It smells like that, one would imagine.
They look similar.
It’s not litchi though.
..... as soon as we grow our own here ...
Our taste buds must the same age.
I don't even want to know how you know what that tastes like.
“ ... its odor is best described as pig-sh*t, turpentine and onions, garnished with a gym sock. It can be smelled from yards away. Despite its great local popularity, the raw fruit is forbidden from some establishments such as hotels, subways and airports, including public transportation in Southeast Asia.
There's something wrong right there. Usually the natural, organic, pesticide-free version of anything costs more. Also, being as it's from China, I'd be worried that they'd mix up the natural version with the pesticide version. Or they'd dump 10x more pesticide in it. Or some other weird ingredient. Somehow, weird toxic ingredients seem to find their way into Chinese products.
42 and still enjoying new things.
"...pesticide used as preservatives..."
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