佛手瓜
thistransient reblogged
strange fruit at the night market
time to live deliciously
#i was a certified longan hater just a couple years ago look at me now#after years of wearing a ratty old mini hiking backpack with broken zippers#i have recently discovered the joy of the tote bag#extremely dangerous that my carrying capacity back from the fruit n veg shop has now multiplied#i only acquired this thing because it was foisted upon me by a friend who got it for free and didn't want it#but what a gift it has been#longan#龍眼#fruit
I will confess, I have never bought salak in Thailand. I’d had it in Sumatera a while back and while it was a pleasant novelty for sure, the taste hadn’t left any strong impression and I’d only seen it here pre-packaged in Tesco. However, my visiting friend was determined to get a nice selection of odd fruits on Koh Chang, and so here I am, eating everything she left behind. These are significantly different from the Indonesian ones- the lighting here doesn’t really show that they’re more reddish than brown, but it’s clear that they are spiky little devils, whereas the ones I’d had before were larger and simply scaly. These ones also have a softer, juicier, more intensely flavoured yellow fruit with only 1-2 lobes per shell. I watched a guy’s “how to peel a salak” video and the “push and twist” tactic he uses on the large Indonesian ones simply does not work here. My peeling thumb is suffering. Yet I persevere!
When I order a kilo of fruit I am kinda hoping for a few small ones I can enjoy over the week, not...whatever this is.
Time to give longan another chance. Also last time I had fresh passionfruit a couple years back I'm pretty sure it was NOT this massive.
New fruit! I have seen it around but held off on trying because it looked suspiciously like longan, which I remembered not being a huge fan of my very first time in Thailand (granted that was 2013 so maybe I should give it another go). This, however, was listed as "langon" on the delivery app, which google did not respond to well, so finally my efforts at reading the loopless font paid off and I could type in ลองกอง (sounds like long-gong), which in English is...langsat?(Lansium parasiticum, from the mahogany family). At any rate, it has little seeds and a nice texture, a bit creamier than rambutan, I can get onboard with this.
Mixing up the fruit order with...rose apple! (Aka wax apple aka Java apple, naturally no relation to actual apples). It was...not as exotic as I'd hoped? Interesting texture but the flavour was nothing astounding compared to the custard apple. Sometimes the thrill of anticipation is the most satisfying part, eh?
Today's fruit adventure. The custard apple, which tastes simultaneously so familiar yet indescribable that I honestly cannot tell if I've had it before.
I have been on a strict tumblr break which surprisingly did result in a completely reformed sleep schedule and a newfound and shocking devotion to ebooks, but I must break my silence to report on this pineapple I just got delivered cause I have never seen one for sale with the stalk still attached and I cannot decide if the resemblance is greater to a regal scepter, some kind of medieval bashing weapon, or perhaps simply the head of one's enemy on a stake.
More farm life Western Australia, 2019
Jambi, Indonesia This guy would not sell me loose bananas...it was all or nothing.