Surinam Cherry 'Zill Dark' Seedling

The Surinam Cherry is a tasty sweet, ribbed cherry-looking fruit and this kind is a seedling of the “black” type bred by Zill's High Performance Nursery (and arguably the best one) — much sweeter than the red/orange types and without the resin taste.

They can have a tangy/spicy/resinous flavour, though this is more mild on the darker fruited types. The Zill’s type can be picked once it goes dark red and if allowed to ripen fully it goes black. The most common kind is the light red type which can sometimes be nice but the darker coloured ones such as this tend to be much sweeter without the controversial taste. It is also a very good looking tree as a bonus.

Seedlings generally grow true to type or close (but can vary), and can often fruit as young as 2-3 years but likely longer if you are in a colder part of the country.

Young plants can survive around to -2c while more mature ones can take around -4c. If you are in an area prone to a lot of frosts then container growing may be a better idea but usually these can be planted in the ground and are quite hardy things. Suitable for decent fruiting in part-shade but fruit production will be higher in full-sun.