Trying a New Fruit: Cactus Pear

To All,

In my foraging trips to Market Basket I had seen something called a cactus pear. Wondering what this was, I googled it and found out that it was the fruit of the prickly pear cactus, which was one of my common childhood weeds. It never occurred to us to eat a weed, so I never sampled this food.

I got one at Market Basket for 99 cents. (My keyboard does not have the symbol for cents; this is one way that we have regressed from the typewriter.) My cactus pear had the size, shape, and pebbled skin of a hand grenade. (See picture below.) I looked up an Internet video on how to peel it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJpW_j1EYTY. (There was another video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DsOix7iFvD0 that showed how to pick it; this involved a blowtorch.) You cut off the ends, make a shallow cut end to end that just penetrates the skin, and then peel it. Easy, even for me. The fruit that came into view had the unappealing sickly red that I associate with beets. I cut off a slice and stuck it into my mouth. The essence of this fruit is that it is all texture and no flavor; despite assiduous effort I was unable to discern any flavor at all. The texture was chewy intermixed with big hard seeds; You had to be careful when chewing not to chomp down on a seed. I apparently swallowed the seeds, though I was unaware of it. I easily finished this fruit in one sitting.

Verdict: While it is of some interest to eat a childhood weed, this fruit has nothing to commend it (except for the hackneyed claim that it is high in vitamin C), and the many hard seeds make it something of a chore to chew. I see no reason to revisit this fruit.

Where do these cactus pears come from? I speculate that the barren fields of West Texas, ruined by overgrazing, have been re-purposed as prickly pear farms. Imagine the majestic site as you drive down the highway and observe prickly pears stretching out on both sides as far as the eye can see.

The Fruit Explorer

P.S. While at BJ's with Mike, I was, as ever, alert to new fruits to sample, when what to my wondering eyes should appear but a big display of chayote. I sorted through the big pile while Mike studied the posted documentation. Just as I had found a good one and was putting it into the basket, Mike announced the fruits of his scrutiny; chayote was a vegetable. l quick put it back. I shudder to think that I nearly bought a vegetable.

     

Trying a New Fruit: Star Fruit

To All,

While prowling the aisles of Stop&Shop, I came across the visually arresting star fruit (aka carambola). If you want to create a decorative still life, then this is the fruit for you. It will draw the eye and ignite conversation. It will make your living room into a salon as artists are drawn to paint your still life.

This fruit is maybe four inches long and shaped somewhat, like a stubby cucumber. Rather than smooth like most fruits it has six prominent ridges that run the length of the fruit. (Some varieties have five ridges.) This longitudinal peak and valley construction gives it in cross section the look of a six pointed star, hence its name. It is neon yellow and green. (Brown spots indicate it is overripe.) The combination of bizarre shape and unusual color scheme makes this fruit a real eye-catcher. See pictures below.

To prepare, cut about a quarter inch off of each end, then trim the top off of each ridge from end to end. This is quick and easy. Then cut it cross-wise as you would a cucumber into slices a quarter-inch thick (or get creative). The only part of this fruit that is a hassle is that you will probably want to remove the two or three seeds from each slice. The visual appeal extends to this stage as each slice is a little six-pointed star. This fruit could be used to teach astronomy.

Pop a de-seeded slice into your mouth.Various web sites compare the texture to apple or watermelon, but to me it is much like cucumber with a very slight crunch followed by melting in your mouth. The taste is pleasant. That might sound like damning with faint praise, but so be it. To me there was no strong taste. (A super-taster like Mei-Mei would probably detect all sorts of entrancing sensations.)

The verdict: One can't help but like such a goofy fruit. It's a little expensive at $1.99, but you get a lot of fruit, so it is a much better bargain than passion fruit, and the fruit has lots of little extras that justify the occasional purchase of such a diverting dessert.

This fruit is like a cucumber in so many ways (shape, method of cutting, texture) that I would call it "tree cucumber" if it didn't already have such an apt name.

The Fruit Explorer

    

The Fruit Explorer Encounters a Mango

To All,

Despite the criticisms hurled at Market Basket by a couple of you, I continue to go there for fruit, and each time I bushwhack through the produce section and scan the aisles to search for hitherto untasted fruit. A couple of weeks ago I bought a mango. I let it sit on my kitchen window sill to let it ripen.

I decided that today was the day. Not knowing how to prepare a mango, I watched two videos on how to cut up a mango, including https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbWsCISLDho.  (This video has a pointer to another video that shows how to tell if a mango is ripe. My first discovery was that even after two weeks in the window, my mango was not ripe. The main tip is to buy mangoes that are yellow and red, not green. Mine has splotches of red but was mainly green.) I ended up cutting off the two sides, cutting each side lengthwise into slices, and slicing off the skin. This was fast and easy. (I did not do so well when I tried the scoring technique.)

I had previously had mango in salsa, and perhaps in fruit salad, but I had never had pure mango, so I was ready for a new taste treat. I was disappointed. I blame the disappointment on the unripeness of the fruit. It was hard, tasteless, and not sweet at all. The first lesson is the importance of ripeness. The second lesson is that my kitchen window sill is not the sure path to ripeness. The third lesson is that the Internet is crammed with useful tips.

Several of you blamed my unhappiness with the uniq (the first fruit covered in this series) to be due to its unripeness. I reject that line of argument and contend that the uniq is just not that good. For the mango, however, I think that not being ripe was the cause of my dissatisfaction. I need to use my new-found knowledge to pick a ripe mango and try again.

When the Fruit Explorer stubs his toe, the proper response it to let out a curse and then get revenge on the offending fruit by making another attempt to eat it. I noticed that Stop &Shop had mangoes on sale for a buck apiece; this presented a perfect opportunity for me to get my revenge. I went to Stop&Shop and sifted through a mountain of mangoes, but not a one was anywhere near ripe. I despair of finding a ripe mango. Revenge deferred.

r

P.S. Please let me know if you would like to be removed from the Fruit Explorer's mailing list.