Connie Mayer

Connie Mayer is a Hylocereus stenopterus by H. undatus hybrid created by the German hybridizer Eckhard Meier, and one of three sibling clones alongside Bruni and Kathie Van Arum. It reached California growers around 2000 and has stayed a connoisseur's variety rather than a commercial one, because the fruit is small and the plant is self-sterile. What it offers is sugar and perfume: an average of 20-plus Brix, the highest of the white-fleshed cultivars in general circulation, with a floral, coconut-tinged flavour that has no real parallel in the crop. The stenopterus parentage also means it takes longer on the vine than most — about 45 days in Louisiana against 30 for typical Hylocereus — and the extra hang time is what builds the sugar. Pollination requires a partner that does not itself carry stenopterus genes.