Friday, May 20, 2011

Chirimoya and Cactus Berries

Today, I'd like to share one of my favorite seasonal, exotic fruits with you!!
Chirimoya
I checked it out on wikipedia and they're called sugar apples. And they are delicious!
My parents have a few trees in their back yard and they've had a bumper crop this season. Even here they are a very coveted fruit and most people love them. I wish I could share them with you all.


The fruit is usually round, slightly pine cone-like, 6–10 cm (2.4–3.9 in) diameter and weighing 100–230 g (3.5–8.1 oz), with a scaly or lumpy skin. There are variations in shape and size. The fruit flesh is sweet, white to light yellow, and resembles and tastes like custard. The edible portion coats the seeds generously; a bit like the gooey portion of a tomato seed. Sugar-apple has a very distinct, sweet-smelling fragrance. The texture of the flesh that coats the seeds is a bit like the center of a very ripe guava (excluding the seeds). It is slightly grainy, a bit slippery, very sweet and very soft. The seeds are scattered through the fruit flesh; the seed coats are blackish-brown, 12–18 mm (0.47–0.71 in) long, and hard and shiny. (source: wikipedia)

Now my next even more exotic fruit is nameless right now. We call them Cactus berries, but I can't find them on Wikipedia so I don't know what anyone not from here would call them.
I love to find them in the "bush" (our woods!) and eat them as they are.

They have a grainy texture and are just barely sweet, but I love them. It's worth getting stuck with thorns to have one!

Have a great weekend!
Casey

2 comments:

  1. Ooh, I love cactus fruits! I live in a Mexican neighborhood and they always have them at my local grocery store - I'd love to make a cool summery sorbet with them!

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  2. any chance you can save one for me when i come?
    Love you
    Midnight

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