Our Fruit Bowl

One of the benefits of living in Thailand is the year round fresh fruits and vegetables. While I certainly miss berries (I'm a big berry girl - all my top favorites are berries), I concentrate on appreciating the joys of watermelon in January and cutting into a juicy pineapple whenever I chose. Canned and frozen fruits and vegetables are rare here. Why open a can of pineapple (which I've never seen in a grocery store), when you can a whole one from any market or already cut into chunks from a street vendor. The only vegetable I've bought frozen is peas, because I have not found fresh ones for sale, and they are a key ingredient in Lemony Alfredo and Peas - Philip's and Meriel's requested birthday meal.

Apples and grapes are a rare treat, but we've gotten the privilege of trying many new fruits, many of which we learned the Thai names for before (if ever) figuring out what they are called in English. Our favorite are shaumpuu - usually red, occasionally green, crisp, not too sweet, can be eaten in their entirety, although the bottom is not as tasty and is often discarded. They do not last very long, so we eat them the day they are purchased from market. When learning Thai with a neighbor, I showed her a picture of a pear as we learned words from The Very Hungry Little Caterpillar; having never seen a pear before, she said it was a shaumpoo since they share a similar shape.

Another delicious and fun looking new fruit are ngo (short "o"). These Seussical edibles are pink egg shapes covered with long greenish stiff "hair." Once the peel is off, the white fruit is sweet but not too much so with texture similar to the middle of a grape; it can be a bit annoying to get all the fruit of the oblong pit in the center, but it is worth the hassle.

I believe the world boasts many kinds of guava, but the farang (also the word for white people) here are green with a soft, white flesh. Probably the closest exotic to an apple. While I don't think they would work as a replacement in apple crisp or pie, we still enjoy these as a stand alone snack.

A final fun fruit I will mention at this time that we frequently enjoy are dragonfruit. We actually have yet to learn the Thai name for this amazing looking item. With layers of thick pink peel curling away, it does rather resemble imaginary dragon scales. The texture of the inside is like a kiwi but white with black flecks. The flavor again is sweet but not overly so.

I hope you've enjoyed a journey through the succulent fruit of Thailand. I realize that I'm not very good at describing taste. Something to work on. In the meantime, enjoy a few extra berries for me during all the berry (and cherry) seasons this summer.