Florida Sweet

'Florida Sweet' was selected and released in 1956 from the Sub-Tropical Experiment Station at Homestead, Florida, and it remains the improved acerola clone that UF/IFAS most often names when recommending Barbados cherry for Florida dooryards. It was picked out of variable seedling populations for an upright habit, unusually large fruit, a thicker skin that bruises less in handling, and a mild apple-like flavour instead of the harsh acidity typical of chance seedlings. Trial plantings in south Florida recorded exceptional productivity: Julia Morton cites yields on the order of 65 tons per hectare, and a 300-tree block that produced between 6,300 and 51,300 pounds over a March-to-November season. Because it is one of very few acerolas genuinely pleasant to eat out of hand, it has become the standard food-forest and edible-landscape selection in Florida nurseries. Ascorbic acid is still very high for a sweet type, reported at roughly 1,500 to 2,000 mg per 100 g.