Friday 30 July 2010

Exotic Fruit

So I was talking to Paushi and I asked her what did u do yesterday. Then she was like, " I had dragon fruit." And I was like, " You had WHAT?" And then she explained to me that dragon fruit was a yummy, jelly-ish, pink.... OK everybody doesn't understand me and Paushi language so with dragon fruit I'll write down a few other EXOTIC fruits!


1. Passion fruit

   
Passion fruit is native to South America. It is grown in India, New Zealand and Brazil. It has a soft and juicy interior full of seeds. These seeds are commonly found in faloodas. There are two types of passion fruit: the dark purple one (gulupa) and the golden one, similar to a grapefruit. However the former one have been reported as being mildly poisonous ( muhuhuhaaaa!!).


2. Jack fruit  
You must be thinking, "Jackfruit!? Why, there's so common here!" Yes, they are common in India but it is still an exotic fruit for other places. The juicy pulp around the seeds taste a little like pineapple but only milder ( you didn't realize that did you?). Jack fruit is said to be the largest tree borne fruit. The wood of the jack fruit tree is used to make musical instruments. By the way, jack fruit is one of Paushi's fave fruits!


3. Mangosteen
Mangosteen! Yum. It reminds me of those flip-flops I saw in Goa which had a mangosteen icon on the strap! Anyway back to the point. Mangosteen is an evergreen tree which produces oddly shaped fruits. The mangosteen is purple, creamy, described as citrus with a hint of peach (nice combo!). It can lower risk of human diseases such as cancer. There are even legends about Queen Victoria offering a reward to the one that brings her the fruit. 


4. Lychee  
I'm sure you all know about lychees, but anyway a little extra info. The lychee or litchi are small flesh fruit with a red rind with a grape-like texture. 



5.  Star Fruit
The star fruit comes from the carambola, a species of tree with pink flowers grown even in the US. The golden-yellow fruit is crunchy, sweet, with a taste of pineapples, apples and kiwis combined (awesome, eh?). There are two kinds of star fruits – acidulate and sweet.    


6. Dragon fruit  


Dragon fruit, strawberry pear or pitaya is a fruit of several cactus species with a sweet delicate taste and creamy pulp. The most common dragon fruit is the red pitaya, but other varieties include the Costa Rica pataya and the yellow pataya. Juice or wine can be obtained from the fruit, while the flowers can be eaten or used for tea. Multi-useful fruit!


7. African cucumber
The African cucumber, my friends, looks nothing like a cucumber (unless your version of a cucumber is a yellow with spikes). It is also called horned melon or melano that is descirbed as a melon with horns. It originated in the Kalahari desert.   





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