Silber calmly shakes chopped nuts from a can and scatters them on the TV tray near the basket.Īs the jay eats his nuts, I’m given a chunk of ice cream banana, also called a blue Java, a thick, waxy-looking fruit that-although not as sweet as tiny supermarket manzano bananas-does indeed have good flavor and a dense, creamy texture. A scrub jay flies into the adjacent lanai, perches on a basket handle, and stares expectantly at Silber. “It’s good marinated in orange juice or served with prosciutto,” he says. Juicy, vaguely sweet, the pepino dulce tastes like a melon and is related to the tomato. In the kitchen, Silber slices off a wedge of pepino dulce, a paleorange heart-shaped fruit with fuzzy purple stripes that has suffered, says Silber, from absolutely no promotion. I’m a contributing editor with them now – I used to be a reader.” I joined the California Rare Fruit Growers, a club that provides information to growers. “We were vegetable growers before, but all this started 14 years ago, when a neighbor gave us some cherimoya and guava plants-offbeat things. He’s cheerful, chatty, philosophical, uninhibited-in the middle of a conversation, he’s likely to squat down suddenly and rock on his toes to stretch his troublesome back. Deeply tanned, with curly silver hair and lively blue eyes, Silber greets his customers in gym sports and a sweatshirt cut off way above the waist. “I’m a kind of guy who likes to do his own thing,” he says. In a neighborhood of lawns and shade trees and rose bushes, the Silbers’ is the only house surrounded by caper bushes, persian mulberries, banana trees, tropical guavas and mango trees, with white bags covering the fruit.ĭavid Silber, now in his 50s, gave up engineering at the peak of his career to raise rare tropical and sub-tropical plants. There is no sign outside, but those with an eye for unusual flora won’t find the place difficult to spot. This nursery/demonstration orchard is located in the yard around the Silbers’ white and gold-ocher ranch-style home. These days, the babaco is only one of 65 rare and exotic plant species the Silbers propagate and grow at the Papaya Tree Nursery.
When sliced, the deep – yellow babaco makes a pretty star shape with a hollow center that Tina often fills with deep-purple passion fruit. In another photo album, there are pictures of award-winning babaco pies and cakes and savory dishes that Tina created. One item Silber likes to promote is the Miracle Fruit, a berry that, when chewed, makes acidic things, such as yogurt or lemons, taste sweet. The plant is compact, but it’s a big producer.” It has no seeds and you can eat the skin. You can’t add flavor or aroma to a fruit, but you can add sugar. “It’s aromatic and tastes like a cross between a banana and a pineapple, only not as sweet, but that’s OK. Silber says of Zsa Zsa: “She looks good there – she’s 70 years old, except, as you can see, she’s fat.”Ībout the babaco, however, Silber has nothing but good things to say! “Such an interesting fruit,” he exclaims. In same of the pictures, Zsa Zsa holds the oblong green fruit, the size and shape of a skinny, fluted football. In the album are many pictures of Silber, Zsa Zsa Gabor and babacos at a gala tropical-fruit event. And he has a photo album d6cumenting his success with the babaco (pronounced ba-BAH-co) papaya. In fact, he and his wife Tina named their Granada Hills nursery after it.
David Silber: Ex-engineer with a passion for growing tropical fruitsĭavid Silber still likes to talk about his first tropical fruit.
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