Hi Patty,
I'm so glad you got the graft to take, as that one can sometimes be a little tricky. I've got 3 types grafted onto my tree, and it took about 17 donor scions. lol
Big Jim is one of the wide grown varieties here in CA, and it does have about the largest fruit of all. As far as taste goes, I much prefer Champagne, Golden Nugget, and Wolfe.
Basically, there are two classes of Loquats. There are golden flesh and white flesh. The flesh color doesn't really have much reflection on flavor, but from my experience, the white flesh is inferior when it comes to canning or preserves, though fine for eating out of hand.
Big Jim has more of a delicate flavor, very juicy, slightly neutral. The one danger with this, is that the hybrid was created without regard to the leggy, thinner young branches, and the fruit must be thinned at times to prevent branches from snapping off from the weight of the fruit set. I've seen entire branches of this one laying down on the ground full of decaying under-ripened fruit, just because the fruit was way too heavy for the branch to support it, and they can be a bit brittle. This one ripens a little earlier than most, from what I've seen (March).
Champagne has a flavor like...well, champagne.
It has a slight acid to the tongue flavor which is somewhat melting and slightly sweet/sour. It's self-infertile and because of this is not a heavy fruiting variety. It ripens around April-May.
Golden Nugget is very similar to the texture and flavor of an apricot with a slight bit more tartness that's pleasant, like a squirt of lemon on top of a fresh apricot. The skin and flesh are golden orange, and it's by far the best for making preserves and eating out of hand (IMHO), since the skin is not tough and easy to eat (like an apricot). The one thing I love about GN is that it ends up ripening over a few weeks, so I can go back for more and keep picking gradually. Most other varieties will mostly ripen all at once, and then after a week or two, there's nothing left on the tree. It also holds the fruit better for windy conditions than most. It also creates one of the most beautiful canopies, being less leggy and more rounded. Very self-fertile!. Ripens April-May.
We also have Tanaka that's grown here more commonly in the Ventura-Santa Barbara region. It was more recently developed and has a good flavor, but the fruit flavor is nearly indistinguishable to me from Golden Nugget. The fruit is shaped different, being slightly more pear shaped and a little larger. The grower told me that it was not as productive as Big Jim or Golden Nugget, which he preferred as well.
Wolfe is most widely grown in Florida because of the huge canopy it creates, and is most resistant to leaf burn and fruit cracking from the hot hot sun. It has the most firm flesh of all, and does the very best on preserving for whole canned loquats, especially because it has a thick skin, and is a little more difficult to eat. It's self fertile and is a medium to average fruiting variety.
There's a New Zealand developed variety which I hear is pretty good, but not yet in the states. Probably because it was made more for their climate. There's also a couple of Japanese variations I've seen. There's a yellow and red blush skinned one, and there's another one which is orange and a bit freckled with red. I've never tasted either, but from what I understand, they were developed for Japan's extreme heat and to be a natural semi-dwarf. I can guess that some of the flavor was compromised.
Also, you were asking about the 'brown'. I think people that grow Loquats refer to it as the 'bronze' which happens in young foliage when they are growing out, similar to the inflorescence and pedicel. When your flowers open, take a whiff of them! It's an incredibly honey-sweet fragrance! It fills my yard with fragrance when it's in full bloom, and I love it almost as much as eating the fruit. A hidden treasure for sure. Since it's in the Rose family, it's understandable that it would have fragrant flowers.
Enjoy!
PS- I saw you grow Paw Paws. I grow 4 varieties here.
