One of my oh-so-many missions this year will be to eat more strange fruit. It has only just dawned on me that this is a mission. Last year Naz introduced me to the joys of longan, and Tash got me into mangosteens (steens? No idea what the plural should be for any of these fruit). This year I've already given honey plums and persimmon a go. So why not make Strange Fruit a project?
In a way any fruit could be strange if you've never seen it before. I gave my nephew Archie a fig for his birthday a month or so ago, and it was as if I'd handed him the Holy Grail. He cradled that fig carefully in one hand for the entire time we were at Collingwood Children's Farm. And, according to my sister, for quite a few days after. What a funny little man he is! Figs strike me as a disturbingly voluptuous fruit, but I've gotten used to them now that we have a tree and I pluck one every morning for breakfast.
So yea verily thus - I present to you the Australian finger lime.
I first saw these in the lovely fruit shop just down the road from my work, staffed by the lovely and informative Loretta, who told me that there are about four different types of indigenous limes in four different colours. I couldn't help but buy one. Admittedly their exterior is somewhat turdlike and unpromising. But inside..! Inside are tiny ultra-sticky green pearls separated into orderly compartments by membranes, just like in regular citrus fruit. When you put these pearls in your mouth they explode, releasing a juice that is deceptively mild at first, but which soon hits you with cheek-puckering sourness. Mmmmm mmmm. I scooped them into my laksa, but apparently they go a treat in a G&T...
The Australian Finger Lime.
No comments:
Post a Comment