Come, taste the mystery!
Jun. 4th, 2005 10:49 amOne problem with living in the city. All the plants are imported from all over the freakin' place and it's hard to research what you're eating when you nibble your neighbor's shrubbery.
There's a fruit tree I've been curious about that grows around here. It seems to get about 20-30ft tall, has large waxy leaves, white flowers in march-april, and produces small fruit about the size and colour of an apricot but more fig-shaped. The fruit has thin skin, a tangy pulp, and two large seeds and is ripe in late May/early June.
Last year I nibbled one and it seemed like it was in the direction of edible but the design was a bit too similar to the cyanisis tree for my tastes. (The fruits of which are technically edible but the seeds have enough cyanide in them to kill an elephant)
Anyhow, last week, I noticed a mexian family pulling the fruits off a tree in their yard and eating them, so I went and asked what they were. Since they spoke no english and my spanish is bad, the conversation when something like this:
Me: Por favor. Que es el nombre de esso fruita?
Guy: ... No se. (turns to woman) 'Que llama esso?'
Woman: No se.
Guy: No se para es bueno. Quieres?
Me: (embarassed with how bad my spanish is).. *blush* No. Gracias.
So... Anyhow, I figured since I hadn't heard any local news to the effect of 'local people die eating posionous fruit', I'd give it a try and ate one this morning. So far, no ill effects but frustratingly, I took notes and have done a ton of google searching and found nothing that matches what this fruit is well enough for me to say 'this is it.'
So... 'Que mi come?' ... 'No se, para es bueno.'
Update:
singedrac identified it! http://www.crfg.org/pubs/ff/loquat.html Yay! ^_^
There's a fruit tree I've been curious about that grows around here. It seems to get about 20-30ft tall, has large waxy leaves, white flowers in march-april, and produces small fruit about the size and colour of an apricot but more fig-shaped. The fruit has thin skin, a tangy pulp, and two large seeds and is ripe in late May/early June.
Last year I nibbled one and it seemed like it was in the direction of edible but the design was a bit too similar to the cyanisis tree for my tastes. (The fruits of which are technically edible but the seeds have enough cyanide in them to kill an elephant)
Anyhow, last week, I noticed a mexian family pulling the fruits off a tree in their yard and eating them, so I went and asked what they were. Since they spoke no english and my spanish is bad, the conversation when something like this:
Me: Por favor. Que es el nombre de esso fruita?
Guy: ... No se. (turns to woman) 'Que llama esso?'
Woman: No se.
Guy: No se para es bueno. Quieres?
Me: (embarassed with how bad my spanish is).. *blush* No. Gracias.
So... Anyhow, I figured since I hadn't heard any local news to the effect of 'local people die eating posionous fruit', I'd give it a try and ate one this morning. So far, no ill effects but frustratingly, I took notes and have done a ton of google searching and found nothing that matches what this fruit is well enough for me to say 'this is it.'
So... 'Que mi come?' ... 'No se, para es bueno.'
Update:
(no subject)
Date: 2005-06-04 10:56 pm (UTC)WHAT!?