Fruit

[liuzhou]

Tutti Frutti. Feeling fruity?

(I have searched and, to my surprise, can find no dedicated fruit topic. I know the search here is deeply flawed, so I could be wrong. Also I couldn't actually find a suitable topic category to put this in. None of the topic descriptions match.)

 

I'm just wondering what fresh fruit you have access to now. We all live in widely scattered places and climates, so I'll wager there are big differences.

This is what I have right now.

 

 

Bananas - available year round. Those are Cavendish bananas, but we get different varieties, too.

Longan (龙眼 lóng yǎn; literally "dragon's eyes"). I'm surprised to see these now. They are usually midsummer fruits, but then the weather has been unusually warm (not that global warming exists, oh no! All a Chinese plot.)

Loquat (枇杷 pí pa). Right time for them.

Strawberries (草莓 cǎo méi; literally "grass berries"). It has always confused me, but Christmas onwards is strawberry season in China. Back in England always summer.

I also have loads of apples.

What you got?

 

Edited March 6, 2017 by liuzhou (log)

[Anna N]

In season? In Ontario? In March? NOTHING. 

[Thanks for the Crepes]

Yeah, here nothing too in season.

 

We always get imported bananas. They are usually pretty good. We can buy strawberries, but they are white on top and pathetic versions of ripe, in season ones. There is plenty of stored or imported citrus available. I bought a nectarine the other day out of desperation. It's imported from Chile and probably won't be good. We have grapes, mostly from Chile, but we are in the dearth season for fruits here. Sometimes one finds blueberries, raspberries or blackberries, in a tiny package with a price that puts me off looking for where it came from. We have apples too, but they are out of season.

 

@liuzhou,

 

Would you do us the favor of cutting your longan and loquats and showing us the insides? I'm unfamiliar with either fruit. Your strawberries look better than what is available here right now.

[liuzhou]

18 minutes ago, Thanks for the Crepes said:

Would you do us the favor of cutting your longan and loquats and showing us the insides? I'm unfamiliar with either fruit. Your strawberries look better than what is available here right now.

 

Here is my blog on longan, complete with photographs.

 

Loquat pictures in 15 minutes.

[liuzhou]

Loquats

 

First picture shows when I just cut one open, showing pith surrounding seed.

 

Then, being a tidy sort of chap, I tidied it up!

 

[liuzhou]

1 hour ago, Anna N said:

In season? In Ontario? In March? NOTHING.

 

Well, obviously I'm not going to "LIKE" that. We need an "Oh dear!" button.

[kayb]

Thanks to the miracles of modern transportation, we're able to get just about whatever we want right now; it may not be too GOOD, but it's available. I've caught blueberries on special a couple of the times at the grocery and bought them. We'll start having local fresh strawberries in about a month, maybe quicker, as warm as it's been.

 

On the other hand, I did cave and buy a couple of Sugar Baby watermelons at the grocery the other day. Not bad, and reasonable at $2.50 per. The grandchild heartily approved. I may have to add a few hills of sugar babies and of cantaloupes to the garden.

 

[Darienne]

1 hour ago, Anna N said:

In season? In Ontario? In March? NOTHING. 

Another Ontarian here.  (Well, actually a native Quebecoise).    What we do have is a freezer still well stocked with apple cider from last fall's harvest: Macintosh and Northern Spy.  Lovely flavor.   Plus a few imported bananas for DH.  And commercially frozen blueberries, mangoes and raspberries. 

[TicTac]

Ontarian's united in fruitless abundance!

 

Still local apples to be had at certain markets from last years crop.  As Darienne mentioned, I too have about 8L of organic unpasteurized cider.

 

Not local but delicious none the less - recently acquired (from Costco - a rare occurrence) organic blueberries from Chile, Pears as well.

 

My local organic market also has the most amazing Jumbo Raisins (a few varieties) and dried apricots from California. 

[heidih]

Not fair as I am in Southern California - will stick to Farmers Market local:  apples, grapes, wide variety of citrus. Blueberries and raspberries - maybe greenhouse grown. Corner strawberry stands are starting up.  

Non-local and tempting are the street carts with cups of pineapple, various melons, and cucumber - with chili lime salt

[Lisa Shock]

We have the tail end of citrus season here; including tons of grapefruits because people plant the trees then get older and aren't allowed to eat the grapefruit.

[TicTac]

One of the things I miss most from my grandparents place in Scottsdale was their citrus fruit trees - Oranges and Grapefruits...mmmmm; it's amazing how foods can trigger such strong memories.

 

 

Edited March 5, 2017 by TicTac (log)

[pastrygirl]

 

In season here at 47.6N, 122.3W:  hothouse rhubarb!  It's been available for a few weeks from local farms.  Otherwise nothing local but last fall's apples and pears.

 

But the flowers are blooming and it's beginning to feel like spring.

[chromedome]

11 hours ago, liuzhou said:

Loquats

 

First picture shows when I just cut one open, showing pith surrounding seed.

 

 

 

Then, being a tidy sort of chap, I tidied it up!

 

 

They look somewhat apricot-ish. Would that be the closest comparison, or are they more plum-like?

[heidih]

Oh no loquats are just a bit fruity and not something one craves. Kind of a watered down taste. We have a bazillion locally to pick in public spaces (it is a pretty tree) Best use  we  have found is to put them in a big bowl of water and ice and sit around to enjoy when it is very hot. Same thing we do with lychee. I have several loquat trees but the night creatures strip them before I can harvest

[liuzhou]

2 hours ago, chromedome said:

They look somewhat apricot-ish. Would that be the closest comparison, or are they more plum-like?

 

I'd say somewhere between apple and apricot.  Certainly apricot in texture.

 

13 minutes ago, heidih said:

Kind of a watered down taste.

 

I prefer to say "mild".

[sartoric]

Here in my part of Oz (sub tropical) we've had abundant pineapples and mangoes. Bananas are always available, stone fruits like peaches, nectarines, plums etc are tailing off. 

I was given 30 or so green mangoes two weeks ago. Some ripened and were eaten, some ripened and were turned into chutney, some greenies were turned into a fiery South Indian pickle...this was a full jar.

 

 

[Thanks for the Crepes]

@sartoric,

 

I believe I read somewhere that bananas are pretty expensive in Australia, due to legislative support for local growers of this crop that bars imports. I seem to remember $9.00 a pound, which is insane to us who pay from 39 to 69 cents a pound for them.

 

You are fortunate to have good local mangoes. I love that fruit. In fact, I love a lot of fruit. Most of it is so good without doing a thing to it except to wash it.

 

Do you ever get finger limes, quandongs, carambola or snowberries? I will probably never see any of these in real life except we can get starfruit (carambola) sometimes. I love the way the crosscuts look on a fruit platter, but I have never had one that tastes good at all.

[sartoric]

14 minutes ago, Thanks for the Crepes said:

@sartoric,

 

I believe I read somewhere that bananas are pretty expensive in Australia, due to legislative support for local growers of this crop that bars imports. I seem to remember $9.00 a pound, which is insane to us who pay from 39 to 69 cents a pound for them.

 

You are fortunate to have good local mangoes. I love that fruit. In fact, I love a lot of fruit. Most of it is so good without doing a thing to it except to wash it.

 

Do you ever get finger limes, quandongs, carambola or snowberries? I will probably never see any of these in real life except we can get starfruit (carambola) sometimes. I love the way the crosscuts look on a fruit platter, but I have never had one that tastes good at all.

The bananas fluctuate in price, high if a cyclone hits up north. It's not so much tariffs that makes the price high relative to say the US, but rather disease control. All are bananas are grown in Australia. Cavendish are about $3 kg at the moment, my favourite lady fingers are double that.

Yes, we can get finger limes at farmers markets. Star fruit don't taste of much, they're the shiritake noodle of the fruit world

 

edit to add - I've heard of quandongs but not snowberries. Haven't seen either.

Edited March 6, 2017 by sartoric (log)

[Thanks for the Crepes]

There is a picture of and a little info on Australian snowberries on this page. They certainly sound wonderful. Another thing I will probably not experience, but you might.

[lindag]

18 hours ago, Lisa Shock said:

We have the tail end of citrus season here; including tons of grapefruits because people plant the trees then get older and aren't allowed to eat the grapefruit.

That's me.  I happen to absolutely adore grapefruit but can't eat it now.  Not because of age directly but due to hypertension medication.

I also like cocktails made with the juice of grapefruit.  Once in a while I'll cheat and have a Salty Dog (a double cheat, with the salt).

[Beebs]

Meh. Nothing local & seasonal worth mentioning in BC right now, either.  There are apples from last fall, but even those are at the sad, mealy, bland stage.  Everything else is imported.  We won't be getting the good stuff from the Okanagan fruit basket till May/June. Ambrosia apples are my favourite, and local blueberries.  I sure wish mangoes and pineapples and avocados grow here in the Great White North.

 

 

[Nancy in Pátzcuaro]

One of the things I've appreciated here in México is rediscovering the concept of "seasonality," when fruits come and go by season. Right now we are flush with passionfruit--our vine will not stop producing--and mangos have reappeared, albeit at a much higher price than in the summer when you can buy them off the back of a pickup truck for 5 kilos for 20 pesos. Mangos will continue until late September or so. Blackberries disappear during the summer rainy season but are available now. The local area is full of hoop houses growing raspberries, blueberries, blackberries and strawberries. We always have access to pineapples, most melons, and papayas year 'round, from lower warmer areas. The price of avocados fluctuates seasonally but they are almost always available (plus we have a tree). We should be eating my husband's favorite fruit, chico sapote, but I haven't seen it in the mercado for some months now. Some vendors sell imported apples and pears from the US but I use the local apples which are much more flavorful than the imports. The small Mexican peaches are just now coming into season--they're very fragrant and pleasantly sweet but there's a lot of pit in relation to the fruit. Nice for jam though.

 

When mangos start to show up in quantity I'm going to make a couple of batches of mango jam and maybe put up some spears in syrup for use during the long mango-less winter.

 

Nancy in Pátzcuaro

[TicTac]

I can only dream of having a passion fruit abundance; sadly this climate will not allow it's cultivation.  We gorged on them on our honeymoon in Kauai at $.25 each!

 

 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Last night I finished the last four tomatoes from my garden.  (For those of you in countries where tomatoes are a fruit.)