Jump to content
  • Welcome to the eG Forums, a service of the eGullet Society for Culinary Arts & Letters. The Society is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of the culinary arts. These advertising-free forums are provided free of charge through donations from Society members. Anyone may read the forums, but to post you must create a free account.

Frightfully freaky fruit


Recommended Posts

Starfruit/carambola (called belimbing in Malay)...

And balimbing in the Philippines.

Ripe starfruit are usually rather juicy with a slightly tart/tangy flavour; however, a Google search reveals that there exists a variety called honey starfruit that's rather sweet and fragrant (source).

Yes Mooshmouse, the honey starfruit is quite common in the Philippine countryside. In Pampanga, it's called taranati while the sour/tart one is the balimbing.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Didn't get a picture, as we were too busy enjoying; but, tried Cherimoya for the first time last Saturday. My they are tasty! Creamy, almost avocado-like texture, and a mild flavor a little similar to pineapple or guava. I can't believe what I was missing for all these years.

If they still have them at the farmers' market next week, I'll document their freakiness.

---

Erik Ellestad

If the ocean was whiskey and I was a duck...

Bernal Heights, SF, CA

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 6 months later...

Well, these aren't really all that frightful.

gallery_27569_3448_14099.jpg

But, they are amazingly tasty and it's really too bad you can't smell them.

I look forward to fall for the brief period when local guavas are at their peak.

If only they didn't have those little rock-like seeds...

---

Erik Ellestad

If the ocean was whiskey and I was a duck...

Bernal Heights, SF, CA

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have just found this thread and found a lot of familiar fruits (guava, santol, rambutans, langka, durian, etc.) from my country - the Philippines. I'm really homesick now for some guavas, rambutan, fresh langka, oh I could go on. Then again, being here in Korea gives me a chance to try different fruits like persimmons, gingko nuts, succulent peaches and pears.

My friends gave me some tiny wild strawberries called snake strawberries. Pem Talgi (which literally means snake = pem and strawberry = talgi in korean).

gallery_48583_3741_259591.jpg

Edited by Domestic Goddess (log)

Doddie aka Domestic Goddess

"Nobody loves pork more than a Filipino"

eGFoodblog: Adobo and Fried Chicken in Korea

The dark side... my own blog: A Box of Jalapenos

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Has anyone ever seen or eaten this fruit? The label says Caramba, the box they were in said from Brazil. Googling brought up a lot of 'Ay, Caramba' references, but none of those gave me any info about this fruit :biggrin:

They're the size of a small pickling cucumber, light to dark-green. The pulp tastes like passionfruit, but much tarter. I like the flavor, but the seeds are very hard which makes them a bit unpleasant to eat.

gallery_21505_2929_10805.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Because I have plenty of other things to do, I spent the last half hour with Mr. Google.

So here's what it is: banana passionfruit (ofcourse), aka curuba. Where does that word caramba come from? marketing strategy?

wiki on banana pasionfruit

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 8 months later...

gallery_28691_4819_316291.jpg

gallery_28691_4819_194204.jpg

I bought these in an Asian market (Battambang in Lowell, MA) that also sells a number of Latin American items, so I don't know which this is. It was under a sign marked "green beans" and priced only as "fruit."

For size reference, they're about the size of cherries. The little bag there was tucked into the package -- I thought it was chile salt, but I don't taste any chile in it.

The fruits, whatever they are, are tart and astringent, which a texture like an apple or crabapple.

Anyone?

I'm guessing they're high in pectin, so I'm tempted to make a jelly. I'd candy them, even, but I haven't had any luck in candying apples or quinces -- I don't like the texture they take on.

(The same market also sold fresh dragonfruit, frozen mangosteens, frozen custard apples, and frozen rambutans; I bought the first two and am in heaven.)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ktepi, You know you are an e-gulleter when................................ :wink:

Brenda

I whistfully mentioned how I missed sushi. Truly horrified, she told me "you city folk eat the strangest things!", and offered me a freshly fried chitterling!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ktepi, You know you are an e-gulleter when................................ :wink:

... you limit yourself to buying one package of the mystery fruit, despite thinking to yourself, "But ... what if it's awesome?"

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Oooh, judging from Google, I think you're right. Will they table-ripen? Some of them have some red blush on them, and I'm undecided whether that was there when I bought them, or if they've ripened in the last two days. Right now they're very astringent.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I believe you need to keep them in a paperbag for a couple of days and they will ripen. My mom used to put them in our rice keeper and it helps ripen it (I have no idea how). I usually eat them half ripe, I love the cruchy-tart-sweet combination.

Doddie aka Domestic Goddess

"Nobody loves pork more than a Filipino"

eGFoodblog: Adobo and Fried Chicken in Korea

The dark side... my own blog: A Box of Jalapenos

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I found this odd melon at the local farmers market today, have NO idea what it is. It's taste is part cantalope, part zucchini, part cucumber, and not very sweet at all. I didn't realy care for it, but the horses loved it! Does anyone know what it is? The person I bought it from didn't know, said it just apeared in her garden and was fruiting like crazy!

gallery_48503_5003_597202.jpg

gallery_48503_5003_636880.jpg

( that is a regular teaspoon, for size comparison)

Brenda

I whistfully mentioned how I missed sushi. Truly horrified, she told me "you city folk eat the strangest things!", and offered me a freshly fried chitterling!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If it the one i had, I found it had a light melon/cuke taste and we just ate it first on its own, and then incorporated it into our summer salads. We mix fruit and veg all the time with different dressings. My fave being variations of the SE Asian rojak.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

that's korean melon? korean melon is usually striped w/ yellow and white, shaped like a really fat cucumber and pretty sweet. I have never seen melons like that in korea. HOWEVER, the inside looks very similar to the interior of the korean melons that I have eaten.

too bad your wasn't so good, because we call korean melons, korean honeydews because of their sweetness

at least your horses got a nice treat (:

BEARS, BEETS, BATTLESTAR GALACTICA
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have just found this thread and found a lot of familiar fruits (guava, santol, rambutans, langka, durian, etc.) from my country - the Philippines. I'm really homesick now for some guavas, rambutan, fresh langka, oh I could go on. Then again, being here in Korea gives me a chance to try different fruits like persimmons, gingko nuts, succulent peaches and pears.

My friends gave me some tiny wild strawberries called snake strawberries. Pem Talgi (which literally means snake = pem and strawberry = talgi in korean).

gallery_48583_3741_259591.jpg

These look very similar to the fruit from mock or Indian strawberries (Duchesnea indica), which are yellow flowered and almost flavourless?

Edit: Yes they are the same thing. They are not really a type of strawberry at all and are often used as ground covers. I remember eating the fruit as a child and being surprised by the lack of any strawberry flavour.

Edited by Adam Balic (log)
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I found this odd melon at the local farmers market today, have NO idea what it is.  It's taste is part cantalope, part zucchini, part cucumber, and not very sweet at all.  I didn't realy care for it, but the horses loved it!  Does anyone know what it is?  The person I bought it from didn't know, said it just apeared in her garden and was fruiting like crazy!

gallery_48503_5003_597202.jpg

gallery_48503_5003_636880.jpg

( that is a regular teaspoon, for size comparison)

I'm guessing, but I don't think it's meant to be eaten raw.

I think it might be a winter melon, and us Chinese usually boil it to make soup.

May

Totally More-ish: The New and Improved Foodblog

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

One of my favorite Farmer's Market vendors grows tropical fruits near Palmdale.

This week she had Rambutan!

gallery_27569_3448_21293.jpg

gallery_27569_3448_22166.jpg

Similar to in texture to lichi or longan, rambutan was maybe a bit tarter and more grape-like in flavor than either of those.

Yummy in any case.

Edited by eje (log)

---

Erik Ellestad

If the ocean was whiskey and I was a duck...

Bernal Heights, SF, CA

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 years later...

I decided to bump this topic up after receiving an email earlier today with this link from a small foodie email group to which I belong. Thanks NikkiS!

I have heard of a lot of weird fruits but have never come across this one which to me is indeed, totally freaky. Even the flowers are freaky.

Jabuticaba the Brazilian Grape Tree

Has anyone ever seen this fruit?

I wonder if anyone in the U.S. has tried growing these trees.

"There are, it has been said, two types of people in the world. There are those who say: this glass is half full. And then there are those who say: this glass is half empty. The world belongs, however, to those who can look at the glass and say: What's up with this glass? Excuse me? Excuse me? This is my glass? I don't think so. My glass was full! And it was a bigger glass!" Terry Pratchett

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

gallery_48503_5003_597202.jpg

gallery_48503_5003_636880.jpg

Korean melon it is called at my market

To me it looks like a "pocket melon." They were once widely grown in Europe for their fragrance and would be carried in pockets of fine ladies who did not bathe very often. It's often grown in SW Turkey and brought into the house to perfume the room. They generally are not very tasty at all.

"Los Angeles is the only city in the world where there are two separate lines at holy communion. One line is for the regular body of Christ. One line is for the fat-free body of Christ. Our Lady of Malibu Beach serves a great free-range body of Christ over angel-hair pasta."

-Lea de Laria

Link to comment
Share on other sites

×
×
  • Create New...