The Elusive Orange Sherbet

A top favorite mango variety of the Tropical Fruit Forum crowd is Lemon Zest, a creation of the famous Zill Nursery of Boynton Beach. I acquired one in the summer of 2013 and planted it in a marginal site with not quite enough sun, and a bit too much competition from nearby oak trees. It languished, fighting off multiple scale infestations with the help of a lot of soap spray, and managing only about one growth flush a year. The leaves developed some kind of spotty white fungus, the same as my Nam Doc Mai growing in another ill-advised location.

This past December, I finally lived up to my horticultural responsibilities and moved the struggling pair to prime spots vacated in the Great Transplanting of 2015. It's a little early to report results, but the long-needed surge of sunlight has turned the white spots into little brown scars. Doc looks ready to pop, and I expect it won't be long before Elsie follows suit. We'll be seeing pictures of them once they get going.

The Lemon Zest variety was born in confusion, as explained on this Gardenweb Forum thread from 2011: “The current Lemon Zest was originally named 27-1. Then it was named Lemon Zest... It was then renamed and originally propagated as Orange Sherbet. Another mango, which I think was from the same original set of seeds that Lemon Zest came from, was found to taste the same as Lemon Zest but be more productive and they decided the name Orange Sherbet was better suited for it and for the 27-1 to go back to its original name the Lemon Zest. Last I heard, they were planning on patenting the Orange Sherbet. Not sure what the status of that is.”

Orange Sherbet fruit is sold at Zill's, and a number of people have given it rave reviews, but reliable word is that as of 2015 the Orange Sherbet trees were still not released: “Last time I checked it was not set for release in the near future. From what I was told, it was not propagated for sale either... I cannot even guarantee it will be released for full sale (versus limited release) but I expect at some future point there will be some availability. [It] might be next year [or] might be in two years. There are multiple factors that will affect its release.”

It's also reported that Orange Sherbet has turned out not to be more productive than Lemon Zest. Combined with the nearly identical flavors, it sounds like a reasonable case not to release Orange Sherbet at all.

Of course there lurks in every collector a desire for the unattainable, and a few TFF posters believe with all their hearts that they have Orange Sherbet growing, producing a slow burn of controversy that has occasionally flared into bitter claim and counterclaim. But I'm convinced by the explanation of a well-connected pro that: “Top [Tropicals] purchased some Lemon Zest from Zill's and the pots had "OS" written on them, however they were NOT Orange Sherbet, they were Lemon Zest.”

So there you have it. Orange Sherbet trees are probably not to be had, at least in the near term. And Lemon Zest is a more-than-adequate alternative. Let there be peace in Mangoland.