by Linda Sechrist W
ith fruits now hot-listed as healthy foods that can reduce disease-causing inflammation and slow the aging process, health-conscious individuals are intentionally seeking the biggest nutritional bang for their calorie
buck. Depending on the season, a shopper browsing their grocery’s produce aisles or local farmers’ market will typically find an assortment of 12 to 24 varieties of fruits grown in Florida, across the U.S., and in other countries. While this may seem like an abundance of diversity, it pales compared to
the 2,000 varieties of wild and cultivated fruit plucked fresh by Amazonian and Peruvian rainforest residents, who rely upon their fruit for the vitamins, proteins and essential fatty acids the rest of us get from a mixture of other foods, including vegetables and nuts. Today, exotic fruit trees from other sub-tropical and tropical climates are
being cultivated and harvested by local food enthusiasts whose gardening talents are expanding into more vertical interests. Planted in yards, the trees are not only yielding nutrient-packed edibles, but also enjoyable learning experiences and op- portunities for community-building, rooted in common interests.
Exotic Names, Delectable Flavors
Trevor Parks knows his fruit trees and can spell the names of all 250 on his 1.5- acre homesite as easily as he can describe how their bounty tastes. “I am from Ja- maica, where many of these fruits are a staple of the diet,” says the vice president of the Bonita Springs Tropical Fruit Club. Fruits like Kwai Muk, Longan, Malay apple, Surinam cherry, Bunchosia
argentea, Jujube, Picanteria, Genip and Grumichama roll off Parks’ lips as glibly as others in his assortment of trees: 40 different types of mangos, 20 varieties of citrus, 10 species of avocado and eight banana varieties, among others. In all, he nurtures 70 varieties of fruit. Parks, who developed the hobby of growing fruit trees after he retired, eagerly
shares his harvests with more than 200 members of his club. “About 30 to 40 of us get together twice a month at the Bonita Springs First United Methodist Church to eat the fruits of our efforts,” explains Parks, who notes that speakers and field trips are also part of the club’s agenda. The two best things about growing fruit, says Parks, are eating it and the mini-
mal effort it takes to cultivate. He generously passes along his self-taught experi- ence in tree pruning, as well as some of his harvests, to Frank DeNardis, a club member with a wholesale license to buy and sell trees, and others like Marianne Luch, a Naples resident who occasionally attends meetings and accompanies the group on field trips.
Colorful Variety
The mango trees in Luch’s yard account for five of her 30 fruit trees, several of which she has purchased from DeNardis, whose enthusiasm for these tropical plants is obvious. “I’m in love with everything about fruit trees, especially the eat- ing part,” quips DeNardis, whose grove is located on his north Naples homesite. At 88, no longer able to do his own trimming, he relies upon Parks to prune the trees that bear edibles unfamiliar to most Southwest Floridians: jack fruit, a sweet, yellow, fleshy fruit whose flavor mimics pineapple; mamey sapote, a foot-long
32 Collier/Lee Counties
swfl.naturalawakeningsmag.com
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