Fruit!
As a kid, I preferred fruit to candy. These days though... well, it's pretty much the same. Give me fresh fruit at the peak of the season, and it sweeps me away to a Happy Place.
Lychee is one of those fruits in peak season at the moment, with a bumper crop on the Big Island bringing prices down around town. The metallic, syrupy lychee in the canned fruit isle doesn't hold a candle to the delicacy of fresh lychee. Breaking open the red skin reveals a silky, translucent gem of a fruit. Don't be fooled by the photo at left. Those lychee are closer in size to golf balls than raspberries.
Mango season is also ramping up and lasts now through August, giving you plenty of time to try new ways to use your mangoes while they'll taste their best. I've got my eye on the chutney from that article. Before you dive in to cooking with mangoes, The Honolulu Advertiser answers a question I've had for a while: how does one cut a mango without turning it into mango mush? Handy photos are provided.
Speaking of fruit cutting, the Star Bulletin describes, also with handy photos, how to carve your garden variety papaya into an elegant crown shape. It sounds cornier than it is. Everyone will be envious of your cutlery-fu if you show up to the dinner party with a papaya crown.
Moving right along to the next fruit to catch my attention, a housemate recently brought home a bunch of "cuban bananas." I can't tell you much about them. The variety is new to me, and Google wasn't terribly helpful this time. The peel is a muted magenta-- very unusual. The banana itself is rosy peach, tasting faintly of strawberries with a very creamy texture that feels like it is melting on your tongue. Has anyone heard of cuban bananas? Where can I get more?
Finally, check out this soursop from our backyard. It's the size of a large honeydew and weighs several pulpy pounds. Green-brown skin pulls easily away to reveal a moist white interior. The flesh is divided into pods, similar to jackfruit or durian, some of which contain inedible black seeds. If anything is likely to turn someone off to soursop, besides the ever-so-appealing name, it'll be the slightly slimy texture. The flavor is mild, with a primal sweet/sour combination that speaks directly to the basic taste receptors on my tongue. It defies description, but if you held a gun to my head, I'd guess describe it as milky pineapple and strawberry. So tasty. I'm heading off to my Happy Place now.
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I love lychess and soursop and sweetsop, I grew the last two, guave, calamansi, bananas and sugar can as a kid and how I miss the fresh fruit. Today I finally found an Asian food market here and everything was canned. Darn it!
I haven't tried calamansi before. Looking around online, it sounds pretty sour. How did you use them?
Kalamansi is the Filipino name for a small green or orange lemon/lime. It is round like a lychee and very sour but with a distinct type of tartness. It makes the best iced tea and is used in place of lemons with fish, seafood, etc..
We have a great sauce that we use on meats and or marinating meats called finedene. (fin-ah-den-knee)
1 part soy
1 part kalamansi juice or lemon juice
(let's say 1/4 of a cup to start)
2 cloves crushed garlic
2 T. chopped onion
1-2 super hot chili peppers
Taste this! Spoon a bit on rice and meats/fish.
Also for marinating, some people add a bay leaf, a bit of beer and some water to prevent it from being too salty, esp. of you marinate overnight.
Lychee! I remember we used to get from my aunty's neighbor. Where do you think is the best place to buy lychee? Mango...I remember picking lots for my high school's mango chutney. Unfortunately, I'm allergic to mango sap >_ very informative post!
Hi Alan,
The kalamansi that Gia speaks of can be found all over SE Asia. Here in Hawaii, I know that the Thais and Filipinos use it quite a bit. If you go to the open market in downtown, you'll see a lot of people selling kalamansi. They are about the size of a nickel and can be either green or a really bright orange.
Gia- I'm going to give that marinade a try!
Naomi- The best places I've found to buy lychee, in order of my personal preference: road side stands (many of these right now, but they move around some), KCC, or if all else fails, your local Foodland/Star Market/Safeway.
Reid- I must have seen these, but they never registered in my brain. I'll keep a closer eye next time I'm downtown so I can pickup a bag.
Thanks everyone!
Hi there,
We're visiting Honolulu, HI next month and wanted to go mango picking with my family but I'm not sure if there are any farms out there where we can enjoy the whole day picking and picnicing. Maybe you have some sugguestions.
thanks
Jane, Unfortunately I don't know of any u-pick farms for mangoes. Most of the time I either get surplus bounty from friends' yards, or I break down and buy a few at the market. Good luck, and I hope you enjoy your trip.