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A Strange Fruit


liuzhou

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sun fruit.jpg

 

I came across this a few months back and asked my Chinese friends what it might be. None knew. Most suggested it was some kind of immature pumpkin, but I never believed them.

 

Today, I discovered its Chinese name is 太阳果 (tài yáng guǒ) which translates as "Sun Fruit". Mr. Google has only managed to throw up a suggestion that it may be of S. American origin. It's about 9cm in diameter and 5cm in depth. I'd love to know any European, preferably Latin, name if anyone can help.

 

By the way, this one has been sitting on my desk in the tropics for about three months, showing no sign of deterioration.

 

Weird.

 

Any ideas?

Edited by liuzhou (log)
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...your dancing child with his Chinese suit.

 

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It looked to me like the small pumpkins that are quite popular around Halloween, and when I copy-pasted the Chinese characters for an image search, all the images support this. That it hasn't deteriorated during the several months indoors also suggests this is a winter squash, since several (most? all?) keep better in warm temperatures.

Michaela, aka "Mjx"
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Thanks Michaela, but the one thing I have established is that it probably isn't a squash. At least not one native to China. The Chinese name also doesn't suggest squash. The last character is definitely 'fruit'. Squashes are all 瓜. Nor did it smell like a pumpkin when I bought it. Now it smells of nothing. It also cost five times what the baby pumpkins go for.

 

Then Google search wiil turn up similar pictures, but the text mentions nothing about pumpkins or squashes that I can see.

 

We have baby squashes / pumpkins by the ton here. I can;t see why they would come up with a totally different name for once.

I did ask the staff but the fruit is on the imported weirdness shelf and they haven't a clue. If it were a pumpkin they would know.

Edited by liuzhou (log)

...your dancing child with his Chinese suit.

 

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Thanks Michaela, but the one thing I have established is that it probably isn't a squash. At least not one native to China. The Chinese name also doesn't suggest squash. The last character is definitely 'fruit'.Squashes are all 瓜. Nor did it smell like a pumpkin when I bought it. Now it smells of nothing. It also cost five times what the baby pumpkins go for.

Then Google search wiil turn up similar pictures, but the text mentions nothing about pumpkins or squashes that I can see.

We have baby squashes / pumpkins by the ton here. I can;t see why they would come up with a totally different name for once.

I did ask the staff but the fruit is on the imported weirdness shelf and they haven't a clue. If it were a pumpkin they would know.

I can't read a word of Chinese, but the image search shows a number of halved specimens, and the inside certainly looks like squash. For the rest, demons are clearly toying with you, to see how much they can get away with.

Michaela, aka "Mjx"
Manager, eG Forums
mscioscia@egstaff.org

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Probably best not to go into my demons too much, Michaela. You could get into a whole new level of moderation! :unsure:

In the meantime a friend not on these forums has an idea which she is following up. If it leads anywhere I will let you know. (She too is convinced it is a S. American fruit, but needs to check the name.)

...your dancing child with his Chinese suit.

 

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Hmm. I think I've seen this at my local Chinese grocery - or maybe I'm thinking of a similarly striped/colored Korean (sweet) melon they have occasionally which is more elliptical in shape...

Can't help with a Western/Latin binomial name yet, sorry - but I must assume you have seen these two articles?

http://baike.baidu.com/link?url=bIPfbD7DXDvoh89gavSmZIhNmkRlspnjjMeWdCjxyM7idpa2ZzWU0kk34od6Y9DMKJ2JGqPcAsGvz8gyXbMKSq

http://www.ycen.com.cn/content/2012-06/27/content_1113897.htm

(The latter one does say the examples the reporter was chasing down was imported from Taiwan)

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I know this is OT, but sometimes OT can be very interesting.

Liuzhou, speaking of strange squashes, demons and pumpkins, Halloween is upon in the USA. I remember when I was in China sometime ago, it happened to be in the "Ghost Festival" holiday.

Can you tell us something about that festival tradition? Food?

dcarch

Edited by dcarch (log)
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Can't help with a Western/Latin binomial name yet, sorry - but I must assume you have seen these two articles?

http://baike.baidu.c...cAsGvz8gyXbMKSq

http://www.ycen.com....ent_1113897.htm

Yes, I'd seen them, thanks. They kind of conclude with "We don't know either!"

Yes it certainly looks like a Koren melon

I don't think so.Totally different shape.

...your dancing child with his Chinese suit.

 

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I know this is OT, but sometimes OT can be very interesting.

Liuzhou, speaking of strange squashes, demons and pumpkins, Halloween is upon in the USA. I remember when I was in China sometime ago, it happened to be in the "Ghost Festival" holiday.

Can you tell us something about that festival tradition? Food?

dcarch

D'you mean the "Ching Ming" festival (Qingming Festival) which would be in Spring? If so, perhaps that might be an offshoot of that Day of the Dead thing going on in the Traditions subforum.

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. The Chinese name also doesn't suggest squash. The last character is definitely 'fruit'.Squashes are all 瓜. Nor did it smell like a pumpkin when I bought it. Now it smells of nothing. It also cost five times what the baby pumpkins go for.

literal translations of chinese names for foodstuff and ingredients is fraught with inaccuracies, and sometimes can be hilarious.

eg in some regions of china potatoes are 土豆, which if translated literally and character by character, means earth beans, go figure.

whatever it is that you bought seems to be expensive by local standards, so perhaps when you do cut it open, try to germinate the seeds, not sure if you will ever get rich... but could be a unique gift item.

It's dangerous to eat, it's more dangerous to live.

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literal translations of chinese names for foodstuff and ingredients is fraught with inaccuracies, and sometimes can be hilarious.

eg in some regions of china potatoes are 土豆, which if translated literally and character by character, means earth beans, go figure.

Inaccuracies? Perhaps not literal, but I wouldn't call not being literal 'inaccurate'. Ever heard of metaphors?

And anyway it's a common language feature. The French for potatoes translates as 'apples of the earth". Another inaccuracy?

Edited by liuzhou (log)

...your dancing child with his Chinese suit.

 

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D'you mean the "Ching Ming" festival (Qingming Festival) which would be in Spring?

No, he means what he said - the Ghost Festival. 盂兰.

But not only is it off topic. It's off season. It was back in August. Anyway, it's no big deal.

Halloween is upon in the USA

Halloween was around centuries before the US was. It isn't an American invention, although the US seems to pay it more attention.

Now back to whatever were talking about.

Edited by liuzhou (log)

...your dancing child with his Chinese suit.

 

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The Chinese name also doesn't suggest squash. The last character is definitely 'fruit'.Squashes are all 瓜. Nor did it smell like a pumpkin when I bought it. Now it smells of nothing. It also cost five times what the baby pumpkins go for.

literal translations of chinese names for foodstuff and ingredients is fraught with inaccuracies, and sometimes can be hilarious.

eg in some regions of china potatoes are 土豆, which if translated literally and character by character, means earth beans, go figure.

Inaccuracies? Perhaps not literal, but I wouldn't call not being literal 'inaccurate'. Ever heard of metaphors?

And anyway it's a common language feature. The French for potatoes translates as 'apples of the earth". Another inaccuracy?

perhaps we have a misunderstanding here.

metaphors? yes, i do know what they are, but how does one translate metaphors? literally? each word on its own? and in chinese each character separately on it own? as in your earlier post, '' the last character is definitely 'fruit'

would anyone translate pommes de terre as anything other than potatoes? yes, if you want to translate each word on its own, or what could happen if you use an automated/online translator.

Edited by jsager01 (log)

It's dangerous to eat, it's more dangerous to live.

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would anyone translate pommes de terre as anything other than potatoes? yes, if you want to translate each word on its own, or what could happen if you use an automated/online translator.

But that's exactly what you did with 土豆, "which if translated literally and character by character, means earth beans"

Just as no one thinks pommes de terre means anything other than spuds, no one thinks 土豆 means anyother than the same - potatoes.

I have no idea what point you are trying to make, but for sure it is way off topic.

Edited by liuzhou (log)

...your dancing child with his Chinese suit.

 

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Here are some squashes I picked up at my local farmers' market this morning:

DSCN9800b_800k.jpg

The two on the left are both "Carnival Squash" cultivars, as labeled and sold by the vendors (two separate ones). [The two on the right are Delicata squashes].

Pic of the two "Carnival Squash" examples viewed from the side:

DSCN9802b_800k.jpg

Here's a website with some info about "Carnival squash", with info (according to these folks) about the origin of the squash:

http://www.specialtyproduce.com/produce/Carnival_Squash_998.php

Note the two "sightings" reported at two supermarkets in Shanghai, China. :-)

Just throwing some additional tid-bits into the discussion.

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Here's a website with some info about "Carnival squash", with info (according to these folks) about the origin of the squash:

Thanks for that. Seems best bet so far. The link to Mexico confirms the Americas connection I was given in the supermarket (although they said S. America rather than Central. Geography is not one of China's strong points, I find).

...your dancing child with his Chinese suit.

 

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Liuzhou - wish I'd seen this thread earlier! Those are called "Zapallo del Sol" (pumpkin of the sun) in Ecuador

I was hoping you might turn up!

"Pumpkin of the sun" fits right in with the Chinese "Sun Fruit" name and the S. American connection! Thanks.

...your dancing child with his Chinese suit.

 

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Panaderia, what is the heritage of the "Zapallo del Sol"? Does it share a heritage or overlap with Mexican pumpkins? Has it been maintained as a single cultivar without any "breeding", similar to what the specialtyproduce website talks about? Does it have green coloration when picked at "peak maturity" but lose the green with age to give just orange and beige coloration, as that website also mentions, or is it always only orange and beige? How big are they? I'm curious, and also about what overlap, if any, there is between what we see here in the US resulting from breeding of these various lines and what you see and what Liuzhou sees in China (via Taiwan, presumably, which could have been brought in there from another place...like the US? Or S. America/Central America?).

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Most of the Latin American squashes are related in some way, Huiray. Given how promiscuoulsy they crossbreed, along with the huge trade in such things by the pre-Incan and pre-Columbian cultures, I wouldn't be too surprised if they've got South American roots in there somewhere. Judging from flavour and looks, it's probably mostly C. pepo with maybe a little C. maxima thrown in for good measure and skin colouration; this is typical of the Latin American squashes.

Oddly enough, my first thought on seeing the ones in this thread was "they're awfully small" - the ones I see in market start about 1 kg and go up from there. The freshest ones are greenish with yellowish ribs, and they get all pumpkin-y as they mature. Then again, I shop at markets renowned for their big produce, so my experience with the giants might be the aberration rather than the rule. We've been talking about the C. maxima squashes here on the eGullet lately; these are very good examples since in my market they start at 5 lbs and go up from there; I typically buy 25 pounders for use in pies and pumpkin-type applications (we do have true pumpkins here as well, but there's less meat to them than kombus.)

Ecuador for one has a huge trade in food with China as well as with North America, so I'd not be at all surprised to learn that they came from my side of the pond. However, squashes are now cosmopolitan in distribution so Liuzhou might also be seeing domestic product.

Elizabeth Campbell, baking 10,000 feet up at 1° South latitude.

My eG Food Blog (2011)My eG Foodblog (2012)

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