Fruits of South America
Guaba
I found a vendor selling this bizarre fruit in Otavalo, a city north of Quito known for its huge Saturday market and indigenous Otavaleño population. I first was convinced it was some sort of mutant beanpod out of Jack and the Beanstalk. The vendor explained that it is a fruit called “Guaba.” Upon further research, I found that it is known by many other names, including its Latin name “Inga,” and the less scientific “ice cream bean,” for reasons I will soon explain.
The plant is in the legume family, which surprised me as I did not know that there were fruits in this family (defined as edible tissues surrounding the seed). Indeed, tamarind and carob fall into this category. An important feature of legumes are their ability to fix nitrogen. Legumes contain nitrogen-fixing bacteria, rhizobia, in nodules in their roots. Thus, Guaba is grown in the Amazon in crop-rotation with cacao, as rainforest soil is generally low in nitrogen due to high competition for relatively few nutrients. It is also used as a shade tree for coffee. It makes a great accessory plant because it is incredibly hardy and resistant to drought and disease. As a bonus, a byproduct of this noble plant are freakishly huge pods with fuzzy seeds.
The pod itself looks and feels almost cartoonish. It has the same anatomy as your standard snowpea pod but much larger with a tough rind. Upon opening the pod you are presented with about 15-20 inch and a half long black seeds covered in a fuzzy white flesh. It is the fuzzy white blanket covering the seed that is the edible fruit. When you put one in your mouth you quickly understand its “ice cream bean” Western name. The flesh literally melts away from the shiny black seed, in a manner similar to cotton candy. Despite its exotic looks, the fruit is surprisingly mild. It is lightly sweet with a slight rose-water overtone. Frankly, the taste is nothing to write home about, but it is certainly fun to munch on. I keep imagining entering one of these bad boys in a giant vegetable competition. Or maybe selling a few of these magic beans to Jack, the resulting giant of which I wouldn't want to come across...
Sweet Granadilla
Sweet granadilla is in the genus passiflora, which includes exotic fruits like passionfruit. Indeed the lesser known granadilla is very similar to its passionfruit brethren, which has gained popularity in the US in recent years. Passiflora needs to grow at elevation with plenty of rainfall and sunshine, conditions that are unique to the Andes Mountains. Something that sets the passiflora genus apart are their amazing flowers. Here is a picture of a passionfruit flower I snapped at San Diego Peace Garden in City Heights during the Growing Communities Conference last year.
Anyway, back to the star of the show. The sweet granadilla’s rind is more of a capsule, very hard and almost shatters when opened. The inside of the fruit is filled with black seeds covered by a gelatinous, almost slimy, pulp. If one did not grow up eating this fruit, I can see how the texture can be unpleasant. I pride myself on never being off-put by texture, but the almost insect-egg like nature of these seeds took a bit of time to get used to. Once one gets over the texture, it is a very interesting eating experience. It tastes like a mix of kiwi, orange, and tamarind. The pulp is sweet, and when one chews down to the seeds, a rush of spicy and bitter overtones makes for a great combination. It’s spiciness is what sets it apart from the passionfruit. It is definitely one of the most unique fruits I have come across.
Taxo
Taxo is another member of the passiflora family, which includes passionfruit and the above reviewed sweet granadilla. I first heard of the elusive “taxo” when being referred to various fruit drinks and ice creams here in South America. Indeed, this fruit is more commonly juiced than it is eaten straight. But after finding it in its natural form I had to give it a try.
Taxo is shaped like an oblong banana, hence its western name, “banana passionfruit.” When cut open it looks a lot like its passiflora brethren. The first one I tasted was incredibly sour, even though it looked and felt pretty ripe. I luckily had acquired a much riper specimen as backup. Still, it was too tart to be enjoyable. It tastes very similar to an unripe orange, and has the same “spiciness” in the seeds as sweet granadilla. It is also very astringent, puckering the palate with its high tannin content. Tannins are plant compounds that have insect and fire protection properties. It is thought that the unpleasant puckering sensation we get from eating unripe fruits are our bodies telling us the fruit is of poor nutritional value and should be avoided. Further, it seems no amount of ripening will make eating unadulterated taxo a pleasant experience. It is best diluted with cream and sugar, as the ice cream is quite tasty.
Guanabana
Guanabana, known outside of South America as soursop, is a member of the custard-apple, or annonaceae, family. Annonaceae are known to have seeds that contain the neurotoxin annonacin. The neurotoxin combined with its gargantuan size and dozens of spikes makes this fruit particularly dangerous and, thus, exciting. What didn’t excite me was its price. After much haggling in several open air markets over a couple weeks, I got this baby for $4, which is incredibly expensive for a native fruit by South American standards. I got quotes for as much as $12. I was told it was out of season, which didn’t make much sense for a tropical plant, which usually flower year round more or less.
Anyway, the fruit is about 10 inches in length and has a relatively tough rind. Inside the flesh is white and quite “custardy” indeed, similar to a banana. Its texture is soft but is held together by a fine fiber meshwork which is evident when bitten into. It is hard to describe the taste as it does not stand out in a noticeable way, which isn’t a bad thing mind you. It tastes like a mild mix of banana and papaya, but much more sour, if that makes sense.
I enjoyed eating this fruit as much as I loved staring at it. But don’t take my word for it, Mark Twain called a close cousin of the guanabana “the most delicious fruit known to man.” I don’t think fruit endorsements get much better… even from yours truly.
Pepino Dulce
When I first saw this specimen, I mistook it for a heirloom eggplant of sorts. Indeed, with its glossy surface with purple streaks, it can be easily mistaken as such. The street vendor told me it is called pepino dulce, which literally translates to “sweet cucumber.” Knowing that cucumbers are in the melon family, I wondered if this fruit was the missing link between cool cucumbers and sweet melons. Such evolutionary prospects enticed me greatly.
The fruit is very firm and dense. Its skin is paper thin, more eggplant than cucumber or melon. However, my eggplant suspicions subsided when I smelled the fruit. It does smell sweet, similar to a cantaloupe, but with a distinct grassy scent. When I took a bite, the taste and texture was strikingly like honeydew, albeit less sweet. Soon the grassy overtones took over, very similar to your standard Persian or English cucumber. Thus, the missing link has been found!
Except it has not...The fruit actually IS in the nightshade family, which includes tomatoes, potatoes, tobacco, and, of course, eggplant. I guess this time judging a book by its cover proved fruitful (no pun intended). Although my inner-Darwin is left unsatisfied, this is a tasty fruit indeed. Subtle and refined, I can see it in salads or as a light breakfast.
Tomato de árbol
Tomate de árbol literally translates to “tree tomato.” I honestly could not think of a more fitting name. Sure it grows on a tree, but would you imagine that it tastes like a tomato? Yeah, quite unpredictable.
Tomate de árbol is another member of the nightshade family. There seems to be a nightshade theme going on here, which makes sense as South America has the highest density of nightshade species in the world. The fruit looks like an elongated tomato, and feels remarkably like one. Once cut into, one can clearly see the thin skin, watery flesh, and slimy seeds, all tomato-esque I might add. But the taste itself does take a slight deviation from expectations. It is like a cross between guava, kiwi, and… tomato. But it is incredibly tart, even for this well-ripened specimen. I can see a great application in salsa and guacamole (proven during a tomato dry-spell in my household). However, if not mixed with something, I cannot see how someone can eat this thing straight… maybe with a chaser of tomato juice or something.
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