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Fruits in Season

I spent last weekend at home in Trinidad, and there were a few fruits on offer that I was fortunate to catch in season. Most of these pictures are from last weekend.

Sapodillas!

I love these, but I never seem to have them that regularly. Now that we have access to our tree it’s great. Hope there are still more later in the month. These fruits taste like brown sugar in a fruit. Seriously. They are also called sapote or naseberry. Latin name: Manilkara zapota. See the Wikipedia entry.

(be warned – this post is heavy on the photos)

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Governor Plums!

Also called Jamaica plum, this is one of two types of plums in Trinidad. They are both eaten green with pepper and salt (almost everything is in Trinidad ;-) ), but while the regular plums get yellow when ripe, Governor Plums turn a gorgeous deep red or burgundy colour, with a beautifully contrasting yellow juiciness inside. Very juicy. Yum.

Governor Plums on the tree

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West Indian Cherry!

Cherries are always in season it seems, but if you let your cherry tree (shrub) grow too high, you’ll just be feeding the birds. Sweet, a bit of tartness and loaded with Vitamin C. Turns a rich bright red with bright yellow pulp. Also called Acerola. Latin name: Malpighia Glabra. Wikipedia entry. In Guyana they make juice out of these cherries. I don’t know if they do that elsewhere, but it was in Guyana I tasted it first. We also have cherries we call sour cherries, which are similar, but stay green and incredibly tart (sour) and are used in preserves – whether the red Chinese preserves (spicy or sweet) or jams.

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Mangoes!

There were starch mangoes at home for the eating, and ripening Julie mangoes on the tree and a laden Long Mango (Mango Vere) tree just waiting. Mango season is in full swing with many more available. These pictures of assorted mangoes (including the beautifully named icream mango) are from last year, but the principle is the same :-) We eat mangoes green, half-ripe and ripe. Green is usually cooked into curry mango, or preserved into anchar or kuchela. Half-ripe is perfect for chows. And ripe…well, ripe is just bliss. And good for chow too!! Pepper and salt.

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Soursop!

Not quite ripe yet, judging by my neighbour’s tree (this is in Barbados) but I am sure it’ll reach there soon. Although I don’t eat soursop. It has a milky white flesh with lots of seeds I believe and people make drinks and ice cream from it. Like I said, I don’t eat it. Wikipedia.

Stay tuned for more.

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This entry was written by Chennette and posted on May 9, 2007 at 9:15 pm and filed under Caribbean, Trinidad and Tobago, food, fruits, photos. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post. Post a comment or leave a trackback: Trackback URL.

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32 Comments so far (Add 1 more)

  1. sapodillas are soo good……….and the plums…….

    1. trinimom on May 10th, 2007 at 6:24 am

  2. I’ve never heard of sapodillas, but I love plums, cherries and mangos. Although it’s always a challenge to cut up a mango without making a huge mess!

    3. ewe_are_here on May 10th, 2007 at 10:19 am

  3. maybe that’s why up there in the cold they sell them so…uhm…not quite juicy :-)

    4. chennette on May 10th, 2007 at 3:01 pm

  4. Your photos are making me homesick…even though, for the record, I have never been a fan of sapodillas or soursop. I do miss cherries and plums. What wouldn’t I give for a good mango chow! BTW, I love your blog! ;-)

    5. Karen on May 10th, 2007 at 3:43 pm

  5. Hi Karen. Thanks for the comments :-) You don’t like the sugary sweetness of sapodilla :-o ? It can be a bit much, I know, but since I only get it rarely, I can love it. But as for soursop…cannot understand the fascination. And turning it into icecream??
    I do check in to your blog (and Mark’s) fairly regularly – you have beautiful boys.

    6. chennette on May 10th, 2007 at 3:48 pm

  6. I love em all! I have not had sapodilla in ages and your description is spot on – brown sugar in a fruit :)

    The make cherry juice and drink here (Barbados) too with those cherries.

    Why or why don’t you like soursop! When that fruit is ripe, the smell is simply divine. I make drink with mine and I love the ice cream but it MUST be homemade.

    I’ve seen people take the pulp, squeezed out the seeds, add condensed milk and eat it. :)

    7. Cynthia on May 10th, 2007 at 5:18 pm

  7. Ok, I will admit I have to go back and try some fruits as an adult ;-) But I am wary…whenever people offer soursop drink, I would always wonder “don’t they have a barbadine vine???”

    8. chennette on May 10th, 2007 at 5:20 pm

  8. Hmmm well we use to have a large Barbadine Vine at the western side of the house and it bore fruit all year round and was there for almost 10 years.
    It stayed very healthy and it just took some pruning after each crop and was watered everyday but on weekends with a tea bath from all the used tea bags of that week and more if I found it not enough.
    However after one aerial crop spraying of the sugarcane by Caroni 1975 Ltd , our Barbadine vine withered and dried. I have never planted one since but I must do so again God Willing.

    9. trinimom on May 10th, 2007 at 8:23 pm

  9. Man I love sapodilla … did you know i never knew the name was sapodilla til i reached Form 1 in high school? I grew up with naseberry (always thought it was neezeberry cos of the pronounciation :D ) and got so mad and angry at Trinis not knowing what i was talking about. I thought everyone was brain dead! I didn’t realize it had a different name here :D

    10. The TriniGourmet on May 10th, 2007 at 9:33 pm

  10. soursop icecream is love ..

    what’s barbadine ? :OO

    11. The TriniGourmet on May 10th, 2007 at 9:34 pm

  11. i haven’t seen sweetsop in forever… i could live on that too :(

    12. The TriniGourmet on May 10th, 2007 at 9:34 pm

  12. I only know naseberry from Wikipedia ;-) so I would have been one of those you were annoyed with!

    Barbadine is Granadilla? – for some reason I can only find French/Guadeloupean pages on it :-) Passiflora quadrangularis – Giant Granadilla

    13. chennette on May 10th, 2007 at 9:39 pm

  13. Naseberry and June plums are names which are known by us. I am surprised though that Chennette does not remember them from her Jamaican Uncle as he used these names all the time. He loved ice cream mango and said it was a Jamaican mango , hehehehehe. And he also carried on about Jamaican plums and not Governor plums.
    He also called Caimite , star apple and would always cut the caimite across its middle to reveal the star and ate it with a spoon like us so as not to get milk on one’s lips.
    Soursop and Grandilla makes lovely milk drinks , ice creams and ice blocks.

    14. trinimom on May 10th, 2007 at 11:24 pm

  14. yes yes everything was June plum and jamaica plum but I don’t remember naseberry
    but I do remember his version of ackee and rock-hard dumplings that skid across the tv room floor when tyring to cut them

    15. chennette on May 10th, 2007 at 11:28 pm

  15. sweetsop???

    16. Lilandra on May 10th, 2007 at 11:30 pm

  16. Not only did it skid it also bent the fork hehehehe……

    17. trinimom on May 10th, 2007 at 11:40 pm

  17. what about the hard rice??

    18. Lilandra on May 11th, 2007 at 12:49 am

  18. hey girl! you making me real homesick with those photos. at home we have about 4 governoe plum trees i can imagine how they laden with fruit and the mango my good. Thank god i am going home in June. there is no where like sweet tnt for food.

    19. mustapha on May 11th, 2007 at 9:30 am

  19. Love it, you teach me to cook and give me a lesson in exotic fruits…

    Damn Mangoes, wish you guys could send me some…..though must say Indians grow the very sweetest mangoes…Alfanso Mangoes.

    20. Cranky Putz on May 11th, 2007 at 10:22 am

  20. Alfanso? Sounds interesting. We have some very sweet ones in Trinidad – douxdoux and icecream – those are small and sweet. Must google Alfanso!

    21. chennette on May 11th, 2007 at 11:02 am

  21. I had to jump in — your governor plums look sort of like what we call red coat plums what is the seed like? I love naseberries, sweet sop and star apples. Soursop ice cream isn’t so bad it can when nicely made be very refreshing. As to cherry juice—I’m shocked you haven’t had cherry juice here??? We have obviously been remiss. As to mangoes I’m dying to find out what your ice cream mango translates to here.

    22. Rone on May 11th, 2007 at 11:31 am

  22. The Governor plums have a seed that is fairly big compared to the rest of the fruit, and sort of cylindrical and rough – you can see the seed almost poking through in the picture.

    Ice cream mango is small, sweet and juicy, and not stringy at all. Called ice cream mango because when it is ripe you can just eat it with a spoon – more pics http://flickr.com/photos/chennette/tags/icecreammango/

    As for cherry juice – I don’t need to have it.

    23. chennette on May 11th, 2007 at 11:37 am

  23. Is sweetsop also called custard apple? Or is it another name for soursop.
    Star apple is caimite as pointed out so many times by our Jamaican friend.
    We had a Custard apple tree in our backyard once when Chennette was small but it did not survive the weather.

    24. trinimom on May 11th, 2007 at 3:06 pm

  24. Sweetsop – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugar-apple is indeed custard apple, or sugar apple.

    25. chennette on May 11th, 2007 at 3:29 pm

  25. Custard apple is love :D *ah feelin’ foreign!!* :***(

    jamaican dumplings are lethal… no one eats moms :P

    26. The TriniGourmet on May 12th, 2007 at 1:55 pm

  26. Hehehe I did not make the dumplings at all .. it was our jamaican friend who did

    27. trinimom on May 12th, 2007 at 7:35 pm

  27. Aah soursop juice is soooo good, we get it here, made by juice company Rubicon. They make loads of different fruit juices, all using tropical fruits. http://www.rubiconexotic.com/guanabana.html

    28. Trig on May 13th, 2007 at 9:33 am

  28. As a young boy growing up in Guyana, Mangoes, sapodilla, and soursop were plentiful. Sapodilla is one of the sweetest fruits I have ever tasted.

    29. Courtney on December 29th, 2007 at 9:35 am

  29. can you feature the apple mango??? it’s like apple outside mango inside… ‘cuz I need it in a project

    31. razor on January 13th, 2009 at 8:23 am

  30. Hi razor – sorry I don’t have a photo of an apple mango…I am not even quite sure I’ve ever seen one!

    If anyone out there knows, please help.

    32. Chennette on January 13th, 2009 at 2:27 pm

  31. Apple Mango is cultivated in Malaysia as far as I am aware, do not know if it in Trinidad.

    33. trinimom on January 18th, 2009 at 6:55 am

  32. omg….why are you doing this to me?? I am seriously drooling over the sapodilla, mangoes and cherries. Luckily I had some real soursop from the tree a few months ago in antigua, but they didn’t have all the lovely fruist like guyana. There are simply divine photos

    34. Jehan can cook on May 20th, 2009 at 8:29 pm

2 Trackbacks

  1. By Global Voices Online » Trinidad & Tobago: Fruit In Season on May 10, 2007 at 7:26 am

    [...] A range of mouth-watering fruit is in-season in Trinidad – Lifespan of a Chennette samples them wholeheartedly. (Posted with appetizing photos!) Share This [...]

  2. By   Caribbean Fruits — Lifespan of a Chennette on August 14, 2008 at 9:38 pm

    [...] for some fruits again. Granted, not all of these are necessarily in season right this minute, like my previous post, but think of this as some more general information on fruits in the region. You never know when [...]

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