
Loquats can be eaten fresh, or made into jams/pies/whatever. I have made a very nice jam with them using my basic marmalade recipe, but fresh off the tree is the best way to eat them. According to Green Deane Jordan, a nice drink he calls loquat grappa can be made with loquat seeds. He soaks the seeds in vodka for a few months, and then adds sugar-water solution to the mix. He says the seeds give the liqueur a cherry-like flavor. I'm going to save the seeds from this little harvest and give it a try. Much like the seeds of its relative the apple, loquat seeds contain cyanogenic glycosides, which release cyanide when broken down in the stomach. I would think that any drink made by leaching the seeds would be poisonous, but since Greene Deane is still alive and well (he says he never drinks more than four ounces at a time), I'll try it .
I also plan on planting several of the seeds to try to use for rootstocks and/or cross pollination for the Genoa Seedling. Interestingly, my Genoa loquat seedling tree seems to be very late (3 weeks to a month) compared to all the other loquat trees in the neighborhood. It set a few fruit this year when no other near by trees were in bloom (at least not that I could see), so I think it is at least partly self-fertile. The tree is fruiting for the first time this year, so I think its still too soon to say how it will behave once it is mature. If I can get some seedlings to come up, I'll try to graft on a branch or two for cross pollination, or I'll try to sneak one into my neighbor's yard nearby.
Perhaps my favorite thing about loquats is that you don't have to have a loquat tree to get loquat fruit. The trees are everywhere, especially around pools, office parks, churches, community centers, etc, and I can see why. They're tough, cold hardy, and fairly drought tolerant, and yet they are evergreen trees with a tropical look. Most people don't notice the fruit, or even realize that it is edible, so there's plenty of fruit available if you know where to look. I'll bet the boys and I will get 20-30 pounds of fruit over the next few weeks from that one tree in the office park, and we could get even more if we could reach the higher branches. If you'd like some seeds, send me a self-addressed stamped envelope (email me for the mailing address), and I'll be happy to share.