Fruit exotique

Categories: food

Date: 11 April 2007 05:37:25

(things sound better in French!)

With my being overjoyed at finding persimmons back at the supermarket, and my bringing them to work for a post-lunch snack, we got talking here about varieties of fruit not often known by everyone: I only discovered, through a friend, persimmons several years ago and several people here had not heard of or seen them before.

First discussed was the durian: if you know of it you're either salivating or repulsed beyond measure: I fall into the latter category, finding its smell rather horrific and agreeing with travel and food writer Richard Sterling who described its odour as "best described as pig-[manure], turpentine and onions, garnished with a gym sock. It can be smelled from yards away. Despite its great local popularity, the raw fruit is forbidden from some establishments such as hotels, subways and airports, including public transportation in Southeast Asia." Growing up where I did, and living where I do now, having a number of SE Asian friends meant durian was introduced to me rather early. I left the room when it was being consumed. (Though a scientist is on the case.)

The jackfruit, which I have not yet tasted, similar inspires disagreement. On the positive are friends and work colleagues; on the negative is Emperor Zāhir ud-Dīn Mohammad (Bābur)'s vivid description:

The jackfruit is unbelievably ugly and bad tasting. It looks exactly like sheep intestines turned inside out like stuffed tripe. It has a cloyingly sweet taste. Inside it has seeds like hazelnuts that mostly resemble dates, but these seeds are round, not long. The flesh of these seeds, which is what is eaten, is softer than dates. It is sticky, and for that reason some people grease their hands and mouths before eating it. The fruit is said to grow on the branches, the trunk, and the roots of the tree and looks like stuffed tripe hung all over the tree.

The Prickly Pear fruit, which I love, is another fruit, like the persimmon, favoured by many Italians who have made their home in Australia. I find it wonderfully refreshing.

Some wonderful and kind colleagues at work brought me in three fruits I had heard of, but not hand the chance to try:

Longan: such fun biting into the shell to open it up and find the delicious and sweet fruit, rather like a lychee, inside
Dragon Fruit (pitaya): an amazing looking cactus containg a very interesting fruit inside: my colleague's description of it as "a flavourless kiwi fruit" was pretty much on target, in terms of its flavour, or lack thereof, and texture, though it was refreshing and I think I could eat more of it, and be refreshed, than I could a kiwi fruit which I can only take in small doses
Pomegranate: definitely not what I expected when I opened it up: chambers with seeds upon seeds surrounded by a beautiful red pulp. Though you certainly work for your food: lots of digging out of the seeds, and pulp around them, before you can enjoy -- but worth it I think.

Any suggestions as to other fruit exotique I should try?