An Exotic Edible Fruit: Akebia

[@jane3924]

thank you for sharing your encyclopedic botanical knowledge

[@thederb720]

And thank you for taking the time to comment!

[@marquisanagbo7337]

Yes is good to know of akebia fruit but my is not the akebia am looking for this grows big with the outside like virus's form

[@marquisanagbo7337]

With the inside white fruits sweat taste soft when ripe ready to eat.

[@chezmoi42]

How interesting! Years ago, I fell for the beauty of the vines and their delicate leaves/flowers at the botanical garden in Tours, but never saw it in fruit. Perhaps they also only have one, to avoid being overrun! Thanks for doing the tasting for us!

[@thederb720]

They are an imported plant so perhaps why they are limiting what they plant in their garden

[@missaisohee]

First seen this fruit on one of Liziqi's video, a popular Chinese youtuber. I thought she was grabbing some sort of cotton flower thingy until she ate them. I don't think we have them here in south east asia.

[@thederb720]

I looked at Liziqi's video-what a lovely woman and beautifully filmed video. Ask around if you have a garden center nearby-or a botanic garden --but it does spread so planting might not be a good idea.

[@haesung9256]

Very interesting fruit and informative narration. I'm also very glad to see that you are doing well 😊

[@thederb720]

This fruit fascinates me--so unusual!

[@RobertHurtt-m6j]

Your show the best ,feels like asmr .😸

[@thederb720]

Wow! like asmr? I feel flattered No one has ever said that before..

[@blunderbuss1395]

i've always wanted to try growing these indoors, since they don't mind shade and subtropical conditions and i'm very interested in their relatives like the holboellias and the stauntonias for the same reason also it's very interesting to hear you talk about the fruits appearance, i've always thought they look like geodes and hearing someone compare them to the cheshire cat was very funny!

[@thederb720]

I've never encountered their relatives--do they have similar edible fruits?

[@blunderbuss1395]

@@thederb720 that's probably because most of their relatives are very well behaved and usually don't escape cultivation plus they aren't too cold hardy about the fruit, i've heard stauntonia has delicious fruit but it's smaller than akebia and doesn't seperate from the peel when ripe holboellia has similar fruit that's said to be insipid and mealy, so maybe a less watery version of akebia? anyways there are a whole lot of species and the fruits may vary depending on that

[@Godisgracious85]

So informative thank you so much ❤

[@thederb720]

This vine is so intriguing and the fruit--otherworldly...

[@TPaigeRobby]

Her voice reminds me of watching the old cartoon peter rabbit. Its so comforting.

[@thederb720]

really? glad you think it's comforting...

[@MountainJohn]

very good video on Akebia. If I may ask, where was this filmed?

[@thederb720]

Two places--my home and a plant nursery in Southampton MA (USA) whose owner is pictured around 3:05 into the video.

[@theflyingcrud]

Fascinating, never heard of these. Haven't seen them here in the south. Are they only up north?

[@Youdontknowmeson1324]

There more cold hardy but they can grow in the south hardy to zone 5 to. 9

[@blunderbuss1395]

the reason you haven't seen them is because they are from japan, and are relatively recent in invading america and so far the spread has been relatively restricted to the eastern coast and a few neighbouring states the plant itself is actually really adaptable since it originates from the subtropics so it has potential to invade way into the south if conditions allow it but i think it dislikes dry summer heat more than the mild winters

[@thederb720]

It should be found in plant zones 4-9. It is invasive so many garden centers in the south who are not happy with the invasive ( but edible) Kudzu may not want to sell another aggressive plant!

[@mayamachine]

Shaped like pawpaw, wliwni wji na, thank you for this.

[@thederb720]

Yes but it doesn't taste like it!

[@edenschwenk4649]

You mentioned that akebias resemble pawpaws? So, there's actually a bit of a scientific reason for that! Even though they're not related, they both come from somewhat primitive groups of plants: pawpaws are "magnoliids", and akebias are "ranunculids". The parts of these plants that are more primitive are the flowers and fruits, and they're very similar to eachother. People actually used to think these were the same group of plants! Another thing you may notice is that mayapples and akebias have a similar structure. Again, there's a scientific reason here! Mayapples are also ranunculids.

[@thederb720]

Fascinating! I appreciate your information, which I wasn't aware of...

[@NikELbErGErBergel]

They sure do look odd. I have never seen anything like that here in Germany 😅

[@thederb720]

They're originally from Asia; maybe botanists in Germany haven't discovered them yet (although they have a reputation of being invasive so maybe that's why you don't encounter them.)

[@MountainJohn]

Watch a guy named all the fruit. He found akebia trifoliata in germany and ate it

[@MoniMeka]

Yeah, I'll pass! Lol. Looks weird!

[@thederb720]

if you havea chance get it a try--inside pulp is sweet.