As members of our CSA, we can safely assume that you recognize that not all fruit is created equal.
The balance of sugar and acid, texture, and aroma, all play into what makes a piece of fruit something delightful to eat or just something to eat. Our taste buds are the ultimate judge of what is exceptional, and we do a lot of tasting around here to be sure, but there is another way that we measure the quality of our fruit – Brix.
If you’ve been a member of our CSA for a while, you’ll likely have heard the term Brix. Brix is the ratio of Total Soluble Solids (TSS) to water in solution. Degrees Brix (°Bx) measure the total amount of “sucrose” in a standard amount of plant juice. In its most basic definition,°Bx measures the sugar or sucrose within a fruit. The higher a Brix measurement, the more sugar, and thus the sweeter the fruit. But °Bx measures more than just sucrose – levels of fructose, minerals, vitamins, proteins, amino acids, and hormones also constitute the solids that are measured.
Our fruit, and the fruit of our partner growers, will measure higher much than fruit you will find through most other channels What this means for you is that you get exceptionally sweet and delicious fruit, but also, that you are getting a higher concentration of vitamins and minerals in the fruits that you eat. A fruit’s Brix is determined by a myriad of factors, but two of the most critical are soil quality and ripeness.
Soil is the foundation for a plant’s total health. A soil rich and diverse in microbial life allows for a plant to grow healthy, strong, and be more resistant to disease and pests. Plants grown in soil complex in microbial life have higher Brix measurements and are more resistant to disease and pests.
The longer a piece of fruit hangs on the tree, the riper it becomes. Ripe fruit has higher concentrations of the sugars that make them taste so delicious, as well as all of the minerals, amino acids, and vitamins that make them so good for you. At Frog Hollow we use Brix measurements to determine the readiness of a fruit to be harvested. Over the years we’ve established a minimum threshold of ripeness for each of the varieties we grow because each variety has its own nuances and capacities. Our blood oranges are a great example of this. Tarocco blood oranges, even at their most tree ripened state, will never have as high of a Brix rating as a high quality navel orange. But with the experience of growing Taroccos, measuring their Brix, and of course tasting them, we know when they have reached a minimum level of Brix to be sweet enough for harvest. The Taroccos may not Brix as high as navels, but we think comparing those two varieties of oranges is more akin to comparing apples to oranges than oranges to oranges because their flavor profiles are so very different.
As we get into the harvest season of our stone fruit you will be hearing more about ripeness in fruit and Brix levels. Stay tuned!
