Hybridized fruits? You’ve seen the pluot or the aprilum, you know the plum-apricot mixes. We have the tangelo (tangerine and pummelo); the nashi (apple and pear); the grapple (grapes and apples); the kiwiberry (kiwi and strawberry); the jostaberry (black current and a gooseberry); the nectacotum (apricot, plum and nectarine); a loganberry (black berry and a raspberry); the youngberry (blackberry and dewberry); the olallieberry (loganberry and youngberry); the boysenberry ( loganberry, raspberry and Pacific blackberry); the peacotum (peach, apricot and plum) and many more I am sure. Some call these “Franken-fruits”. Some call them delicious.

While at the Farmers’ Market this past week I came across another one, the Pearine. It is a pear and nectarine mix. It was sweet, delicious and juicy. It is the shape of a nectarine with a yellowish green pear colored soft skin with brown and orange-ish streak and spots. It is a delicate fruit and bruises easily and ripens off the vine very, very quickly. So if you buy some, only buy what you will eat in the next day or two and keep them refrigerated.

So what is next in the genetically modifying world of fruits and vegetables? A banana-melon or a cucumber-berry? Who knows? For now, I am going to keep checking out the local Farmers’ Market to see what unusual fruits come into season. Let me know if you find any unusual fruits and what you thought of them.