Description
Latin name – Spondias purpurea
Hog Plum is also known as ciruela, jocote, mombin, and a couple other names. The fruit is the size of a small plum and looks similar to a tomato, with a bright red skin. When ripe they taste like apple juice with a hint of astringency, but are sometimes eaten green/unripe with salt. Hog Plum leaves are also edible, and taste similar to sorrel.
The Hog Plum tree grows large and wide, putting on most of its growth in the summer time and dropping all its leaves in winter. In spring, the fruit actually forms on completely bare branches, and leaves appear shortly after. Hog Plum trees love full sun and are very drought tolerant, barely needing any care other than an occasional pruning. Many of our customers from the West Indies region say they grew up eating Hog Plum fruits, and the taste brings them back to childhood. For how easy they are to grow, we certainly recommend Hog Plum as a bulletproof addition to any Florida food forest.
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Size: 15’ H x 20’ W
Sun Requirements: Full Sun
Cold Hardy: 30º F
Harvest Season: Summer
Watering requirements: Drought tolerant once established
Food Forest Layer: Canopy, Sub Canopy
