Solanum glaucescens
Cuatomate
Solanum glaucescens
Solanum glaucescens, Cuatomate, is a really interesting Solanum relative that is largely unknown outside of it’s native range. Steven Murray of Murray Family Farms, collected these seeds on his travels and brought them back singing their praises. He was stoked about this fruit and knew that it had major potential. The soft orange exterior that yields to bright red arils brings to mind that it is a Passiflora relative although it is not! The fruit is sweet and tangy and is delicious eaten out of hand but is also supposedly very good in salsas.
Cuatomate grows as a Liana, or long meandering vine, and has small thorns all around the stem. A single plant will easily grow to take over a fence and begin bearing fruit within the first or second year. The trees are supposedly capable of handling slightly temperate conditions, but are certainly very successful growing in tropical conditions. The plant appears to get woody with maturity but has very herbaceous and soft new growth, meaning they will likely be susceptible to dying back in frost events.
Not many people are growing this plant yet so be some of the first and join up with Murray Family Farms and Wildlands Farm and Nursery to grow out the first crop in the USA.
Family: Solanaceae
Name: Solanum glaucescens
Common Name / Native Name: Cuatomate
Range: Jalisco, Michoacan, Oaxaca, Chiapas, Campeche, Yucatan, Quintana Roo
Sun: Full sun/part shade
Height: Will grow as far as supported
Width: Will grow as far as supported
Foliage: Large herbaceous leaves with small thorns on the middle vein of leaf
Flower: Unknown
Fruit: Golf Ball sized Orange fruits with red flesh
Soil Type/ pH: Unknown
USDA Climate Zones: Unknown
Cold Hardiness: Undetermined but may be capable of handling frosts to some extent.
Edibility: A highly treasured species in it’s native range; eaten out of hand or processed into salsas.
Age to maturity: One to Two years