Stefan Joest <[log in to unmask]>:
>What about the ability of a harvested fruit to ripen afterwards? Do you
>consider this to be useless?
>Would you always prefer "ripened on the tree" over "harvested and
>ripened afterwards" ? Are there exceptions to the rule, i.e. fruits
>that never reach a good state on the tree but are eatable after picking
>and ripening? Olives come to my mind and perhaps some sorts of avoca-
>dos aswell as bananas.

Tom:
Avocados cannot ripen on the tree - the stem contains ripening inhibitors
(ref: "Plants of Warm Climates" by Julia F. Morton, and personal experience).
A fruit that must ripen on the ground is the bago, a tropical fruit. I
posted a bit on that some months ago: do an archive search for the keyword:
bago; I posted it last Summer sometime - July or August, I think.

Getting back to avocados: because avos don't ripen on the tree, and unripe
avos are effectively inedible, it would be an act of AWESOME stupidity
to be photographed naked in an avocado tree with 2 friends, as an
illustration of the false/mythical "humans are naked apes" nonsense promoted
by assorted raw fanatics/wackos.  (P.S. as stupid as such a photograph
would be, it would be even more stupid to put it on the cover of a plagiarized
fruitarian book). :-)

Stefan Joest <[log in to unmask]>:
>I'm not sure if citrus shouldn't spoil after some weeks. Are you saying
>that every citrus that spoils after 10 days is too bad to be put into
>your/mine body?

Tom:
My experience is that the outcome does not depend on organic/commercial
status. I have had commercial oranges dry and others spoil; ditto organic.

Regards,
Tom Billings
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