2528 Crandall Drive
San Diego, CA 92111
858-277-8167
This post will be the first of many that are a departure from my standard restaurant review. As a foodie, I want to share all thing food related with my readers. Of course restaurants are a big part of sampling new tastes and they are the easiest way most people have to experience foreign flavors and cuisines. However, I'm going to start sharing other things with you like markets and recipes. To begin this departure, I want to share a rare treat with you: Ong nursery.
Not far from K's Sandwiches in Linda Vista is a seemingly normal house with a few extra potted plants in the driveway. You'd never suspect the density of rare fruit being grown in the backyard. I was thrilled to learn that such a nursery existed in central San Diego. I thought all nurseries were out in Fallbrook and Vista. Upon walking up the drive way to the house I saw a few older people sitting inside the garage conversing. I figured one of them must be Quang Ong (the proprietor) but they told me to check around back. To my surprise, Quang was not a retired, hermetic old man but a livid, passionate younger man atop a ladder, hurriedly picking Chinese jujubes. Before I had a chance to introduce myself and shake his hand, he was handing me half a dozen jujubes to try.
Now, the Chinese jujube is about the size of a small crab apple and the tree looks rather plain, not nearly as exotic as some of his other specimens. The fruit has a mottled reddish/brownish skin (when it's ripe) with white meat. The most remarkable thing when you first bite into it is how crisp it is. It's crispier than an apple or Asian pear. It will seem a bit dry and fibrous, with a mild flavor, but it's not chalky or mealy like some apples are. It gets sweeter as you chew it a couple times. They're extremely snackable and Quang tells me that they are not nearly as crisp in the markets (I've never seen them in Ranch 99, but I'll look for them next time I go to compare).
Quang was still busy harvesting fruit so the wife and I wandered about the rest of his garden. There's barely any room to move between the plants in some places and he has many hanging plants above other plants (the ones that don't require a ton of sunlight I assume). He also has a koi pond and a makeshift greenhouse. He says he's been growing the nursery for about 18 years and it's difficult to believe he's done so much in such a relatively small amount of time (considering some of the plants are rather mature). Quang seems pretty young, so 18 years must be a very sizable chunk of his life.
After perusing the grounds a bit (I recognized pommelos, persimmons and pomegranates, but there were lots more I didn't recognize), Quang found us and offered us some dragon fruit. The fruit is simply impressive. It's bright pink and has a luster almost like a rose. He sliced it in half and handed the wife one half and me the other. The meat on this one is clear (like a coconut sauce) but Quang mentioned that many cultivars have a pink meat. There's hundred of edible black seeds embedded evenly in the fruit. The fruit was a little larger than a softball so half of this was very filling. When you bite into the fruit there's very little texture. It's practically made of juice, yet still pretty easy to eat. The meat pulls pretty neatly from the skin. It also seems to have a mild flavor but becomes noticeably sweeter if you hold it in your mouth.
We couldn't stay long, but I definitely plan to return to the nursery to purchase a plant or two for the new house we'll be moving into this week. I'll have a front yard with with good Southern exposure (and with no grass) so I plan to have a few gardening areas (container and raised bed) so I'll have the luxury of experimenting with more plants, beyond my tomato and herbs. Living in San Diego, we all have the luxury of tending to these exotic plants that we wouldn't dare raise outside of a greenhouse in any other part of the US. Many of these species are indigenous to rain forests and other subtropical areas that are constantly being pillaged in the name of development. So tending to exotics is one part love of their fruit and one part conservation.
If you'd like to taste some truly unique fruits, definitely stop by the Ong Nursery. They're generally open from 8am to 5pm Saturday and Sunday but it's a good idea to call (858-277-8167) or email (quang12@aol.com) beforehand. I think they're also available during the week after 5pm but perhaps only by appointment. San Diego is also fortunate enough to have a Rare Fruit Grower's Society (http://crfgsandiego.org/index.html). They meet in Balboa park once a month and often have fruit available for tasting. I believe there's a small membership fee to attend the meeting but if you pay once, you're good for the rest of the year. I haven't attended one of their meetings yet but it's high on my to-do list.
San Diego, CA 92111
858-277-8167
This post will be the first of many that are a departure from my standard restaurant review. As a foodie, I want to share all thing food related with my readers. Of course restaurants are a big part of sampling new tastes and they are the easiest way most people have to experience foreign flavors and cuisines. However, I'm going to start sharing other things with you like markets and recipes. To begin this departure, I want to share a rare treat with you: Ong nursery.
Not far from K's Sandwiches in Linda Vista is a seemingly normal house with a few extra potted plants in the driveway. You'd never suspect the density of rare fruit being grown in the backyard. I was thrilled to learn that such a nursery existed in central San Diego. I thought all nurseries were out in Fallbrook and Vista. Upon walking up the drive way to the house I saw a few older people sitting inside the garage conversing. I figured one of them must be Quang Ong (the proprietor) but they told me to check around back. To my surprise, Quang was not a retired, hermetic old man but a livid, passionate younger man atop a ladder, hurriedly picking Chinese jujubes. Before I had a chance to introduce myself and shake his hand, he was handing me half a dozen jujubes to try.
Now, the Chinese jujube is about the size of a small crab apple and the tree looks rather plain, not nearly as exotic as some of his other specimens. The fruit has a mottled reddish/brownish skin (when it's ripe) with white meat. The most remarkable thing when you first bite into it is how crisp it is. It's crispier than an apple or Asian pear. It will seem a bit dry and fibrous, with a mild flavor, but it's not chalky or mealy like some apples are. It gets sweeter as you chew it a couple times. They're extremely snackable and Quang tells me that they are not nearly as crisp in the markets (I've never seen them in Ranch 99, but I'll look for them next time I go to compare).
Quang was still busy harvesting fruit so the wife and I wandered about the rest of his garden. There's barely any room to move between the plants in some places and he has many hanging plants above other plants (the ones that don't require a ton of sunlight I assume). He also has a koi pond and a makeshift greenhouse. He says he's been growing the nursery for about 18 years and it's difficult to believe he's done so much in such a relatively small amount of time (considering some of the plants are rather mature). Quang seems pretty young, so 18 years must be a very sizable chunk of his life.
After perusing the grounds a bit (I recognized pommelos, persimmons and pomegranates, but there were lots more I didn't recognize), Quang found us and offered us some dragon fruit. The fruit is simply impressive. It's bright pink and has a luster almost like a rose. He sliced it in half and handed the wife one half and me the other. The meat on this one is clear (like a coconut sauce) but Quang mentioned that many cultivars have a pink meat. There's hundred of edible black seeds embedded evenly in the fruit. The fruit was a little larger than a softball so half of this was very filling. When you bite into the fruit there's very little texture. It's practically made of juice, yet still pretty easy to eat. The meat pulls pretty neatly from the skin. It also seems to have a mild flavor but becomes noticeably sweeter if you hold it in your mouth.
We couldn't stay long, but I definitely plan to return to the nursery to purchase a plant or two for the new house we'll be moving into this week. I'll have a front yard with with good Southern exposure (and with no grass) so I plan to have a few gardening areas (container and raised bed) so I'll have the luxury of experimenting with more plants, beyond my tomato and herbs. Living in San Diego, we all have the luxury of tending to these exotic plants that we wouldn't dare raise outside of a greenhouse in any other part of the US. Many of these species are indigenous to rain forests and other subtropical areas that are constantly being pillaged in the name of development. So tending to exotics is one part love of their fruit and one part conservation.
If you'd like to taste some truly unique fruits, definitely stop by the Ong Nursery. They're generally open from 8am to 5pm Saturday and Sunday but it's a good idea to call (858-277-8167) or email (quang12@aol.com) beforehand. I think they're also available during the week after 5pm but perhaps only by appointment. San Diego is also fortunate enough to have a Rare Fruit Grower's Society (http://crfgsandiego.org/index.html). They meet in Balboa park once a month and often have fruit available for tasting. I believe there's a small membership fee to attend the meeting but if you pay once, you're good for the rest of the year. I haven't attended one of their meetings yet but it's high on my to-do list.
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