Guava juice

In Chatuchak market, we bought a guava juice. We chose guava because we had very good guava shakes in Bangkok, with perfect sweetness. But this time, the taste is off, not sure what chemicals they put in. Doesn’t taste like real guava juice.

Medlar fruit

I saw these weird fruit in Brussels and bought 2 of them. But they were hard so I carried them for a few days till they got soften. I ate them like a fruit. They are dry but very sweet, perfect for making jams. In Amsterdam, I also saw a Medlar tree in someone’s backyard.

“Medlar fruit are very hard and acidic. They become edible after being softened ("bletted") by frost, or naturally in storage given sufficient time. Once softening begins, the skin rapidly takes a wrinkled texture and turns dark brown, and the inside reduces to a consistency and flavour reminiscent of apple sauce. They can then be eaten raw, often consumed with cheese as a dessert, although they are also used to make medlar jelly and wine."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mespilus

Funky lemon (Italian Cedro) in Palermo

I saw this really funky lemon in Palermo, Italy. It looks like a giant yellow brain. When you cut it open, it has larger white parts than those ones in Canada and China. Do they grow different kind of lemon in Italy?

Anyway, my friend peeled it and put sugar on the slices as a refreshing dessert after dinner. Interesting! The white part is eatable, very soft. The center parts suppose to be less sour than a regular lemon, according to my friend. But for me it is the same, still very sour and not very good without sugar.

Fresh Coconut Juice

Nothing is better than fresh coconut juice to start a hot sunny day. When we were in Palaya de coco (beach), there is a coconut vendor near the hotel. He is there everyday. One coconut cost 350 colons (Costa Rican money), less than $1. This is the cheapest I had; the others sell for 550 colons. The juice is really refreshing and subtle in taste. Not like the coconut juice they sell in Canada, because there is no sugar added.

I eat like locals do. After drinking the coconut juice, he opened the coconut for me to dig out the meat. It does not have a particular coconut smell. It taste really subtle as well. The young coconut is very tender and filling.

Green Orange in Costa Rica

My monkey instinct makes me appreciate fruits right picked on the trees than those selling in the supermarket. For that reason I picked the green orange from the orange tree in the hostel’s backyard. The local say those ones are not as sweet as the ones in the supermarket. They are right; another kind of green orange is sweeter than those in my hands. But they are not too bad, at least not sour.

One day in someone’s backyard, we saw a Costa Rican is eating those oranges right under the tree, with the ground covered with failing down oranges. I would love to do that too!

Sweet Star Fruit

I always have trouble to find ripe star fruit in the fruit market. Even when I was in China, my first memory of start fruit is sooooooooo sour that my father put tons of sugar still tastes sour.

Lesson learned: Never buy it again!

This time I was just wandering around the streets in Santa Cruz in Costa Rica when I saw few trees full of star fruits in a school backyard. I shamelessly picked one to try it out. It was really small, you can see the size to the ratio of my palm (I do not have big hand). To my surprise that is the sweetest one I have ever had. It was so good that I went back to pick more. But the other ones were not that good. The really ripe ones were on the ground or high on the top of the tree.
Too bad I am not tall enough.

Donus peach/ Saturn peach

The other day I saw donut peach in the supermarket, I thought it must be one of those American genetic modified mutant fruit. After researching on internet, I am surprised to discover more to the simple peach.

« The University of Florida has released its own variety of the flat peach, called the UFO. This new variety has several advantages over others. For those who want tree ripened fruit this is the one. It is even good for commercial growers because the flesh is firm enough to withstand shipping conditions.

The researchers inserted a gene to create extra-firm flesh into an Australian saucer peach. This resulted in very sweet fruits with extra-firm flesh. The name 'UFO' would seem to describe the shape, but it actually describes the flesh. The scientists are using the UF prefix for all firm-fleshed peaches and nectarines. The UFO peach is specially adapted to the warm, subtropical conditions of Central Florida from Tampa north to Gainesville. »

http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/fruit_garden/92737

Donuts Peach have white flesh and they say it has better taste than other peach varieties. It is very interesting in the link below, they mentioned this peach originated from china. I have never seen it when I was in China.

“Old-time Chinese orchardists treated peaches with such reverence that they could be planted only within the royal precincts of the emperor. Their peaches were classified in one of two ways: golden (yellow flesh) or silver (white flesh). To the tribe of rare silver peaches belongs the mouthwatering peento (originally pan tao), the intensely flavored and odd-shaped peach we now know in the United States as the ‘Saturn’ peach.

http://www.motherearthnews.com/Organic-Gardening/2006-10-01/Saturn-Peaches.aspx

One of the most famous Chinese tale is money king. The money king stole peach (Pan Tao) in the garden of sky queen and got punished. I thought that was just ordinary peach. Today I learned it is Saturn Peach.

You can read about top 10 reasons to try donut peach

http://www.motherearthnews.com/Real-Food/2006-10-01/Top-10-Reasons-to-Try-a-Donut-Peach.aspx

Now I know the story behind the donut, I have to try it!!!

Cuba

click picture to see close-up

Holidays in hot climate countries, such as in Cuba, is the best way to forget about freezing northern snow in Feb. Havana is a beautiful city, full of vintage cars, music, rum, etc. In the local Chinese town, you can easily find people selling little buns with pork on the street (Pic 1). I particularly love the buns because they put crispy pork skins on the meat. If you didn’t notice yet, almost all Chinese love animal skins. Roasted BBQ pork with crispy skin is the dish every Chinese wedding has, not to mention that famous Beijing duck (Crispy BBQ duck skin wrapped in a thin pancake).

Most Cuban street food are deep fried, just like Cuban restaurants serves beans and rice (Pic5 ). I heard all restaurants are state-owned, therefore, the cooking for them just a job. There is no love for food. Unfortunately, it was true for the restaurant I have been to. Meat is often over-cooked and dry; as for vegetables… I don’t have much to say, because simply there aren’t any veggies for most of the dishes. Even at a fancy tourist restaurant, the lobsters and fish are over-cooked (Pic 4). I am not sure if it is a style, but I can’t I enjoyed soft pizza crust, neither the limited topping selection (Pic 6).

The best chicken I had in Cuba was in a mountain village. The meal comes with the coffee -factory tour 1 hour drive from Havana city. The guide told us the villagers had an competition for the best chef, who is cooking for the tourists. The chicken we had was free-ranged in the village and meat is really moisture.

In the village, the guide showed us an interesting plant (pic 8) and warned us Do Not Touch It! The fruit of the plant has a very stinky smell, which will last on your skins for a long time. Nothing can get rid of that smell. Locals are studying the plant because they discovered healing-cancer ability of the fruit.

After one-week of meat diet, I am ready to go home to have a veggie meal (surprise! Even for a meat-lover like me). At my last day in Havana, I discovered a market and surprise to see they do sell green vegetables there. I guess Cubans don’t really like veggies. For the last hours in Havana, I bought some guava fruit (Pic 3) and an interesting looking fruit (Pic 2). At least I thought that was a fruit, since it is sold with other fruits. But it turns out, its bright orange meat tastes like cooked yam. It is not juicy at all; I ended up give it to someone on the street. I don’t remember the fruit / veggies’ name so I can’t really find out what is it. Maybe you can tell me?