1. Bananas (pisang): Ever the butt of crude joke makers everywhere, bananas are potent imagery in a country where the warm and sultry tropical climate lends itself toward amorous encounters. Indonesia has at least 42 varieties of banana, ranging from the sickly sweet Pisang Mas (gold banana) to the absolutely huge Pisang Ambon. No wonder Indonesia has a large and growing population (240,271,522 and counting).
2. Rambutan. These testicular looking fruits are a delight to eat – if not to touch. Get to the wonderfully juicy flesh inside by breaking open the hairy fruit by squeezing it between your thumb and first finger. But be warned - when buying these fruits in the market they’ll probably already be crawling in ants – which are presumably attracted by the fruit’s sweetness. So either wash the rambutans in a bucket of water when you get home or expect to get ants in your pants when you unpeel and eat them!
2. Rambutan. These testicular looking fruits are a delight to eat – if not to touch. Get to the wonderfully juicy flesh inside by breaking open the hairy fruit by squeezing it between your thumb and first finger. But be warned - when buying these fruits in the market they’ll probably already be crawling in ants – which are presumably attracted by the fruit’s sweetness. So either wash the rambutans in a bucket of water when you get home or expect to get ants in your pants when you unpeel and eat them!
3. Durian Definitely an acquired taste, the English writer Anthony Burgess wrote that dining on this fearsome looking fruit was “a lot like eating vanilla custard in a latrine”. Nuff said methinks.
4. Pineapple (nanas). Being a pineapple lover myself I had once been mystified by how unpopular pineapples seem to be in Indonesia – especially since they are so cheap they are almost being given away. I finally found out why this was so when a number of years ago a rather prim and proper young lady strongly rejected my offer of a few large slices of fresh & succulent pineapple, telling me in the strongest possible terms that they can do all sorts of “unspeakable things” to a woman’s “plumbing” and even cause miscarriages (apparently there’s some truth to her claims). But what impact do they have on men I wonder?!!
5. Mango: The best recommendation for this juiciest of tropical fruits must come from Antonio Blanco, the famous Catalonian painter who made Bali his home. It was just another perfect day on the Island of the Gods when Blanco was asked by a London art collector for his views on that old philosophical chestnut that has been troubling philosophers since time immemorial:
"Antonio, you are rather Philosophic my friend; what have you found to be the meaning of life?"
And Blanco’s answer: "When I am biting into a ripe succulent Mango in my right hand, and at the same time fondling (with my left hand) the firm buttocks of an 18 year girl…..er…..model, THAT I have found to be the closest THING to a MEANING FOR LIFE".
5. Mango: The best recommendation for this juiciest of tropical fruits must come from Antonio Blanco, the famous Catalonian painter who made Bali his home. It was just another perfect day on the Island of the Gods when Blanco was asked by a London art collector for his views on that old philosophical chestnut that has been troubling philosophers since time immemorial:
"Antonio, you are rather Philosophic my friend; what have you found to be the meaning of life?"
And Blanco’s answer: "When I am biting into a ripe succulent Mango in my right hand, and at the same time fondling (with my left hand) the firm buttocks of an 18 year girl…..er…..model, THAT I have found to be the closest THING to a MEANING FOR LIFE".
6. Mangosteen. The prickly durian may be the “King of fruits” but the honor of “Queen of fruits” is deservedly given to the mangosteen, a simply sublime fruit whose flavor the British explorer Burbidge described as "...something like that of the finest nectarine, but with a dash of strawberry and pine-apple added."
And so yummy is this fruit that the British monarch Queen Victoria herself once famously offered 100 pounds – a huge sum at the time – to “anyone who would bring her one."
This gave the encouragement to creative horticulturalists in Old Blighty to try and grow one – more for honor than monetary reward. And thus, in 1855, the UK, with its most miserable of climes, achieved the impossible: the first ever fruiting of this fabled tropical fruit on British soil! And here I quote:
This feat was accomplished at Syon Park, the ancestral home of the Dukes of Northumberland, by their highly skilled gardener John Ivison. The greenhouse complex was heated to maintain a steady tropical temperature to offset the temperate British climate and this was managed in what were then known as stove houses.
It was stated that the tree with the flowers was about 15' high and 9' wide (a field grown tree in the tropics can produce at a much smaller size and in fewer years) but to pull this off in a greenhouse was quite an accomplishment. It was acknowledged as such by the Royal Horticultural Society at the time.
7. Snake fruit (salak). So called because of their reddish-brown scaly skin, I’ve never liked salak because they are way too dry for a fruit and taste a lot like acidic tissue paper! Yucks! Still, they look great though.
And so yummy is this fruit that the British monarch Queen Victoria herself once famously offered 100 pounds – a huge sum at the time – to “anyone who would bring her one."
This gave the encouragement to creative horticulturalists in Old Blighty to try and grow one – more for honor than monetary reward. And thus, in 1855, the UK, with its most miserable of climes, achieved the impossible: the first ever fruiting of this fabled tropical fruit on British soil! And here I quote:
This feat was accomplished at Syon Park, the ancestral home of the Dukes of Northumberland, by their highly skilled gardener John Ivison. The greenhouse complex was heated to maintain a steady tropical temperature to offset the temperate British climate and this was managed in what were then known as stove houses.
It was stated that the tree with the flowers was about 15' high and 9' wide (a field grown tree in the tropics can produce at a much smaller size and in fewer years) but to pull this off in a greenhouse was quite an accomplishment. It was acknowledged as such by the Royal Horticultural Society at the time.
7. Snake fruit (salak). So called because of their reddish-brown scaly skin, I’ve never liked salak because they are way too dry for a fruit and taste a lot like acidic tissue paper! Yucks! Still, they look great though.
9. Guava (jambu). Insanely delicious fruits which I first tasted in Indonesia but which are apparently native to Mexico, Central America, and northern South America and came to SE Asia by means of ocean drifting (yeah, sure!). Defined as a superfruit - being rich in vitamins A and C with seeds that are rich in omega-3, omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids and dietary fiber – eating one single guava can cure poor eyesight, help you run a marathon in less than 2 hours and keep you awake and alert for four days continuous. Or I could be exaggerating of course…
10. Passion fruit (markisa). Crack open the hard shell and you have – and here I quote – “an aromatic mass of double-walled, membranous sacs filled with orange-colored, pulpy juice and as many as 250 small, hard, dark-brown or black, pitted seeds”. Or in simple English, this means that when you eat this wonderfully tasty fruit you get loads of pips in your gob as well. And that leaves you to make a choice. Spit or swallow?
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar