Jocote de Invierno

Jocote de Invierno, also called jocote de agua, is the third of El Salvador's rainy-season cultivars and the one that gives the whole invierno group its name. It fruits July to September, when the dry-season clones are long finished, and its role in the Salvadoran jocote calendar is to extend the eating season rather than to produce the biggest or sweetest fruit — at about 13 g it is the smallest of the winter types and it is frankly acid. The alternative name jocote de agua points at the wet-season habit and the juiciness of the fruit. It is a lowland clone grown from near sea level to around 700 m, propagated like all jocotes from large cuttings, and it is most often found in dooryards, living fences and mixed smallholdings rather than dedicated orchards. For a home grower assembling a jocote collection, it is a useful season-extender to plant beside a dry-season clone.