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PRODUCE QUIZ
I’m not so much exotic looking as exotic in origin. A native of India, my thanks to Missionary Brewster for bringing me with other family to North America. You’ll find me growing in Thailand, China, Hawaii, Southern Florida, Southeast Asia, Mexico and other tropics. Don’t be fooled by my appearance. I may look plain and dull, a bit rough on my smooth shaped outside, but inside, you’ll be awed by my aril. Explore my aura. Split my shell at the stem end and peel back my thin shell to find transparent to translucent white flesh enclosing a large smooth inedible seed. I’ll feel like a soft fibrous grape to the tongue and taste juicy, sweet, delicate, tropical, pineapple, grape . . . . my taste and texture challenge description -- mellower in taste than my better-known close relatives and more modest in appearance (no warts, spines, hairs, or bumps), I’m equally good in their recipes. Chinese make shampoo from my seeds which they call “eye of the dragon” because of a white eye-shaped spot on the dark brown seed. I grow in clusters high in an august ornamental evergreen shade tree whose family is called soapberry because of our high saponin content. I’m most delightful eaten out of hand or served mixed with other tropicals, rice, vegetables, salads, or lightly cooked in sauces, poached or added to stir fry. I’m also preserved in syrup or dried to look like a large raisin. Or just freeze me in the shell. I bring you Vitamin C and potassium, magnesium and copper. If the birds and bats don’t eat us all, you can most easily find me in Asian markets in July and August or imported throughout the year with other tropical fruits. And, that’s the ----- --d short of it.
Last Quiz Answer: Oregano
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