Revue Magazine » Another Fabulous Fruit

Red Dragons in the Market

Kate Witt — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 15:30:32 +0000

Pitahayas (photo by Rudy Girón)

Pitaya season is here

They are sweet, spiny and flaming red, rushing into your local markets by the dozens. Red dragons—in fruit form—are in season.

Pitaya (dragon fruit) is common throughout Mexico and Central and South America, but is more popular in consumption in Asia (Vietnam, Thailand, Japan and China). The fruit looks like a prehistoric orb, a painted artichoke, if you will.

Dragon fruit comes in a variety of colors (outside and in), but the most common variety in Guatemala is the red dragon fruit, so named for its magenta skin and creamy, red fruit inside.

Whether from Latin America or Asia, all dragon fruit is eaten the same way: Cut open the fruit and spoon out the soft center, which is dotted with tiny, edible black seeds. Dragon fruit may be consumed raw, added to fresh lemonade for a natural pink look, or processed into frozen yogurt and ice cream treats.

Selecting pitaya at the market is easy, just look for the biggest, reddest fruit and you’ve found your dragon.

Here’s a refreshing cocktail for your next party:

Ginger Dragon Delight
1 oz. rum (preferably white)
1 oz. dragon fruit juice (dragon fruit muddled with a pinch of sugar)
Splash with ginger ale

Mangostino, Anyone?

Kate Witt — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 00:29:48 +0000

Strange and Delicious Fruits of June

Regardless of location, farmers’ markets throughout Guatemala provide a grand opportunity to experience new flavors, textures and colors in fruits foreign to the extranjero tongue. If you’re worried about consuming raw fruits here in Guatemala, remember that a couple minutes soaked in low strength bleach water will kill anything looming on the skin of these beautiful fruits. Here are a few coming and going in your local market through the month of June.

First off we have the ciruela, or small plum, that is beginning to flood the markets. At first glance this fruit highly resembles a large cherry, such as the Bing variety, but don’t be fooled. Vendors continue to sell the large, dark plums (also called ciruelas) that we’re accustomed to, but the majority of these are exported, whereas the smalls plums are native (criollas). I suggest you bring along a cleaning cloth to taste test your plums before purchasing them. The darker the skin doesn’t necessarily mean riper the plum, it may just be a different variety.

Next we have the guanaba, a large, prickly, green sweet fruit that tastes like a mix between pear, kiwi and granadinas (those large, passion fruit-like fruits that contain seeds resembling fish eggs). When the fruit is mature, it is soft to the touch. Cut it open, remove the slimy center (it’s edible but extremely bitter) and enjoy the sweet, smooth flavor.

Next, the mangostino is a small eggplant-like fruit that is cut open and the white part is consumed. When taken out whole, the edible part of the fruit looks exactly like a head of garlic. The fruit is extremely sweet, seedless and easy to eat. The mangostino is more abundant in the Highlands (due to the cooler growing temperature) and is a large export fruit to Colombia. Nevertheless, it is a tasty hidden treasure available in the markets.

In the end, we come to the paterna, which, depending on the rainy season, may or may not be around by mid-June. This fruit comes in its thick pod shell, usually green in color. When cracked open (the shell is soft) one is greeted with small, white fuzzy covered seeds (if it’s brown, it’s past due). The trick is to pop a seed in your mouth, lightly bite it, and peel off the sweet fuzzy outer coating to eat. Do not eat the seed! Spit it out and eat the outer covering, which offers a light sweetness, such as a clover flower.

Enjoy the seasonal tastes available at Guatemala’s farmers’ markets!

Another Fabulous Fruit: Lichi

Revue Magazine — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 06:11:23 +0000

Another Fabulous Fruit: Lichi

Also known as the lichee or litchi, this spiny red fruit originated in China, where it has been grown for three and a half millennia. Amazingly, scientists have found specimens of the sturdy lichi tree that are more than 1,200 years old. In the last 20 years the fruit has caught on beyond Asia, and is sold fresh, frozen, canned in syrup or dried like dates and renamed lichi nuts. In the Antigua market prices vary depending on quality, but you should be able to get two for a quetzal. Within the alien-looking rind is a gray, vitamin-C rich pulp that can be sweet or tart, depending on the individual fruit. Simply peel and eat around the large central seed — and watch out for squirting juice.

Another Fabulous Fruit: Carambola

Revue Magazine — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 06:11:34 +0000

For two decades the exotic carambola only appeared in the U.S. as a component of holiday fruit baskets. These days you’ll find them in all the better Stateside grocery stores. Also known as star fruit because of its shape when sliced crosswise, this oddity once grew only in Sri Lanka and the Moluccas. Perhaps a millennium ago it was transplanted to Southeast Asia, where it has been heavily cultivated ever since. There is more than one variety, but in Central America you’ll find small, tart versions that locals eat fresh or blended in licuados (aka a “smoothie”). In other countries the carambola is sold canned in syrup like peaches or marinated in honey then jarred as preserves. If you eat your carambola fresh, check the skin first — if the ribs are brownish, trim those parts off to give a sweeter taste. If you decide to cook with carambolas, you’ll find they make a good substitute for apples in recipes.

Another Fabulous Fruit: Anona

Revue Magazine — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 06:07:46 +0000

Known variously as the sugar apple, soursop and cherimoya, this fruit grows in so many regions and varieties that information on it is contradictory. Most sources say there about 2,000 species, all high in carbohydrates, potassium, phosphorous and calcium. The local variety contains a white, custard-like pulp and clusters of dark seeds. The flavor is difficult to describe, but people often compare it to ice cream. A staple fruit in Africa as well as Latin America, the anona is usually eaten fresh; however, you might try refrigerating it because it changes the taste somewhat. A Guatemalan technique is to let the fruit ripen on the tree, causing it to split. Picked in that state and stored at room temperature, the split scars over, and the fruit is thought to have an improved flavor.

Another Fabulous Fruit: Green Mango

Revue Magazine — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 06:10:24 +0000

Green Mango

Scholars believe Buddhist monks took mangoes on voyages from Asia to Persia in the Fourth and Fifth centuries B.C., and that the Persians subsequently took them to Africa in the 10th century. From there the Portuguese introduced them to Brazil during its 16th century colonization of the New World. And from Brazil the mango spread to Central America. Although there are strains of mango that are green when fully ripe — including the cambodiana, saigon, cecil and jacquelin — the green mango sold in the Guatemalan markets is a normal mango picked before ripeness. At this stage it has an extremely tart taste and less fibrous texture than a mature specimen. Interestingly, of all the mangoes made available for import, nearly 80 percent go to England and France.

Another Fabulous Fruit: Nispero

Revue Magazine — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 06:07:44 +0000

Another Fabulous Fruit: Nispero

Known in other countries by the names sapodilla and naseberry, these little orange fruits come from a tree that is a distant member of the rosebush family. In China, Japan and India, níspero trees were used ornamentally as well as for the fruit. For millennia only Asia knew of the níspero, but in the 1800s the tree was introduced to Spain and then transplanted to the New World, where its sap became a prime source of chicle (gum). The níspero is usually eaten fresh but is also cooked and eaten as preserves.