I don't have any useful advice but ackeee are delicious and unique food! I used to get them from a friends tree. If I had the space I would grow one. Good luck w yours!

Thanks for posting. I picked up an Ackee on a whim. It's about 4 feet tall and looks very similar to yours, minus a couple branches. I didn't realize there were special precautions until I got home with it. Hope to learn from all the experts here.

Tom

swrancher, timewise you are right on schedule, sizewise your tree still looks a little small. My tree fruited 2 1/2 years after planting and it was about 12-15 foot tall at the time. Give it a little fertilizer and hopefully it will shoot up some over the summer. The good news is that it can fruit 2-3 times per year, so if things go well, you might still get fruit by the end of the year.

pepperot, the most critical step in cleaning ackee fruit is to make sure that the fruit opens naturally. NEVER open a closed fruit. The reason is that there is a toxin (name escapes me at the moment - hypoglycin A or something) that is present in levels that in all likelihood will lead to your death!!! (Yes, that is supposed to scare you!) However, once the fruit opens naturally, typcially splitting into three segments, light reduces the toxin to a safe level. The next step is to remove the cream-colored arils that are attached to the seeds. Take care to make sure that they arils are still fresh and not discolored. Such discoloration starts about 2 days after the fruit opens. Sometimes the "less fresh" arils will become mushy. If you are not 100% sure what I mean by discolored or mushy, do not eat the fruit! Also there are small red "hairs" that are located on the inside surface of the arils. Make sure to remove these as well. Since there are folds or crevices on the aril, I was taught to spread the aril out to make sure that there are no surprises. BTW, NEVER eat the seed as it is always poisonous. If you eat the overripe aril or the little red hair you may become ill (possibly quite painfully so) but the odds are that you will survive. So I am told. I don't take any chances and if anything looks the slightest bit "off", out it goes. I would strongly encourage you (and everyone else) to get an experienced person to show you how it is done the first time. I've been cleaning the fruit now for a good 10 years, have given lots away, and never heard back about anyone having become sick. Come to think of it, I've never heard back from anyone of them! lol

Okay, hopefully you are still willing to eat the fruit. It is quite good and has a nutty flavor. Often it is eaten for breakfast and used as a replacement for scrambled eggs. The national dish of Jamaica is ackee and (salted) codfish. If you have never cleaned the fruit before, as a precaution I would advise that you invite over (practically) any Jamaican friend to help you clean the fruit the first time. They will happily do so in exchange for a portion of your harvest. Then in the future, you can either cook it up yourself or do as I do and deliver the cleaned fruit in exchange for a nice meal! :-)

If anyone else is interested in growing ackee, I got an email announcing that the subject of this month's Broward Rare Fruit Council meeting will be growing Ackee. The meeting will begin at 7:45PM on Wednesday, 09/07/11 at the Broward County Extension Building, 3245 College Avenue, Davie.

Tony

Nice tree......very interesting horticulturally. I still scratch my head as to why Jamaicans like it so much. Its like getting excited over some scrambled eggs. Throw in that they are poisonous and can create quite a liability with the neighborhood kids and this was one tree that I did not ever have to have. Good job of growing though.

Harry

"Nice tree......very interesting horticulturally. I still scratch my head as to why Jamaicans like it so much. Its like getting excited over some scrambled eggs. Throw in that they are poisonous and can create quite a liability with the neighborhood kids and this was one tree that I did not ever have to have."

My sentiments EXACTLY, but I guess you could say the same thing for Carambola? If you had a kidney problem they could ruin your life. I guess sites like this keep us in the know.

Gary

Swrancher nice tree, it must me one the shorter variety for mine are 2 stories tall and still have not bared.

Hm and gnappi you have no idea what your missing, Ackee has a flavor like no other. It can be cooked codfish or just with your favorite greens, If you have already tried it I think it was just not prepared correctly, for if I ever made you some Ackee and saltfish you would eagerly lick the plate and ask for seconds. :)

My Ackee was just above head height and produced a lot of fruit. But last year it got in the way of "progress" and I removed it. Never tried the fruit, not into 'flirting with death'. I still have some more trees, the seeds must have been spread around by animals.

Tropicbreezent it is not the only fruit with a poisonous seed most tropical fruit seeds are poisonous to humans even some domestic seeds are poisonous. The difference with Ackee is it has to open on its own in order to release it's nasty gas, I can only assume that's just it's way of insuring its future. So let's try to understand the reason for this defense , poisonous gas: One would not want there pre matured seeds scattered around . Poisonous seed : that one is a no brainer, one cannot germinate it's seeds if they are cosumed.

But there is one thing that many do not know about the Blighia sapida fruit, is as long as the unopened fruit is red if placed on a window sill or in the sun it will open up on its own.

I realise that, we're surrounded by fruit and veggies of varying toxicity. I have cashews which I like and process them myself. But when I found Ackee growing on my place and identified it, the research I did on it didn't give me the confidence to try it myself. You can be right many times, but you could also end up being wrong only the once.

60 years old and never wrong about this fruit once. You have to know what you are doing that's all.

hmhausman - The ackee does not taste like eggs hence the excitement would not be about eggs. Looks like doesn't mean taste like... anyways, you don't like more for me.

thats not near ready to be growing fruit as yet maybe a couple more yeas or 2