In March, Regans nursery in Fremont had both plants.
The Macs, however are small and cost $ 50.

Jeff

The above followup was added by Jeff on April 23, 2002 at 8:29 pm PST.

Richard,

Both macademias and babacos can be rooted easily. I can give you some cuttings.

Axel

The above followup was added by Axel on April 24, 2002 at 5:04 pm PST.

Axel... Do Macs really root easy? I have never tried , but I heard that they are difficult.

Any chance that I can get some Babaco cuttings from you?

I got a Babaco from Regans last month and planted it in a semi sunny area. The thing has doubled in size!

I would like to start some plants to give away to some of my chapter members . As soon as they mine fruiting, they'll be hounding me.

Jeff

The above followup was added by Jeff on April 24, 2002 at 6:36 pm PST.

Axel,

Thanks for the offer. I would love to take you up on it. How should I best contact you in order to arrange a trade?

I was also told that Macadamias were difficult to root. Still, at the last green scion exchange in SF, I received cuttings which I attempted to root. No luck. Perhaps the cuttings were too woody.......

Thanks in advance.

Richard

The above followup was added by Richard on April 24, 2002 at 8:23 pm PST.

Richard
I've got some very small and not real healthy mac seedlings. You're welcome to have one. I suspect it would do fine if given more attention and warmth. You can then graft onto it in a year or so, if all goes well. I have no shortage of Beaumont scionwood. In fact, I just girdled some for Ashok yesterday.

All
I think that others will find rooting mac cuttings to be rather difficult. But no doubt doable, since the literature says so. But I suspect probably only with right maturity wood under highly controlled conditions.

The above followup was added by Tom A. on April 24, 2002 at 8:35 pm PST.

I was happy to discover this year that I like babaco, after reading that many people don't care for them. Anyhow there is still a limit to how many you can eat fresh so after not being able to find a recipe for them i made up my own.

2 babaco's diced, skin & white pulp included
3/4 of a cup of sugar
8 passionfruit (if you have them)
and simmer the whole lot until the sugar penetrates the fruit, (About 20mins).
It tastes fantastic by itself and better with ice cream, almost everyone likes babaco this way, i can't get enough of them now. My babaco tree has two main stems and sets a fruit at every leaf, it is now quite top heavy as the lower fruit has been eaten and 3 weeks ago it fell over during several days of heavy rain. Luckily its doing well after my wife and I stood it back up and tied it to the house, I would be happy to read of any other recipes for the babaco and hope some of you enjoy the one above.

bye john

The above followup was added by john evans (australia) on April 28, 2002 at 11:26 am PST.

John,

I'll have to try your recipe. I used to rank babacos as a famine food. But I've been pretty happy with my babacos after i figured out how to prepare them. Now I anticipate the next fruits. I have one massive fruit ripening right now, and 4-5 that should ripen shortly thereafter. The tree is also blooming again.

I like to eat my babaco as follows:

Slice babaco into strips, with skin and all. Marinate in sugar, and place in the refrigerator. Let sit for a day or two. Then enjoy as is.

This is really tasty.

Axel

The above followup was added by Axel on April 29, 2002 at 2:01 am PST.

Thanks for that recipe Axel, i'll try it soon, while experimenting with babaco i found it's not bad putting a thin slice on a roast lamb sandwich, however I'm alone in liking that.

I also thought it would make a good mixer, so i blended 1 babaco and made a whisky sour with babaco juice instead of lemon, it's bloody foul, only the very brave should try this. After trying 10 -12 different alcoholic concoctions I really believe that babaco's don't have a great future in the bar, although towards the end of the tasting they seemed to improve.
Malibu and babaco would be the only one I would try again.

bye John

The above followup was added by John Evans on April 29, 2002 at 10:21 am PST.

Thanks for that recipe Axel, i'll try it soon, while experimenting with babaco i found it's not bad putting a thin slice on a roast lamb sandwich, however I'm alone in liking that.

I also thought it would make a good mixer, so i blended 1 babaco and made a whisky sour with babaco juice instead of lemon, it's bloody foul, only the very brave should try this. After trying 10 -12 different alcoholic concoctions I really believe that babaco's don't have a great future in the bar, although towards the end of the tasting they seemed to improve.
Malibu and babaco would be the only one I would try again.

bye John

The above followup was added by John Evans on April 29, 2002 at 10:21 am PST.

Here's a quick one to try, dice the babaco into cubes and soak in the contents of a can of black cherries in syrup for 24 hours. The babaco takes on the flavour of the cherries and really extends the can contents. Not exactly a 'field fresh' option but quite pleasant.

The above followup was added by Nigel on May 26, 2002 at 4:08 am PST.