Eating Thai Fruit Demands Serious Effort but Delivers Sublime Reward • Hacker News Board

Re: Eating Thai Fruit Demands Serious Effort but Delivers Sublime Reward

#151

Post by tptacek » Wed, Jun 24, 2020, 12:23 AM UTC

3131s wrote: post #124

tptacek wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hannah Beech has been an SEA bureau chief at the NYT and, before that, Time Magazine for something like a decade, and wrote for Time Asia for years prior to that. I don't think "deeply uncultured American" helped your argument, and note that most of the fruit-related points you made here were challenged downthread.

I wasn't wrong about anything. Durian does not smell like death, even to people that don't like it. I know people can perceive tastes differently. My tone was too flippant because I found the article's tone annoying and misleading. I get it, hyperbole, but when most of the people reading it have no familiarity with these fruits it's going to put them off trying.

I wouldn't want to litigate durian, as I am too chicken to try it. I have general sympathy for fruit enthusiasts and am inclined to believe you about their virtues. Good on you for acknowledging the hyperbole; I just thought the background would help.

Re: Eating Thai Fruit Demands Serious Effort but Delivers Sublime Reward

#152

Post by bookofjoe » Thu, Jun 25, 2020, 12:54 PM UTC

reedlaw wrote: post #47

Dragon fruit can be grown in California, Florida, and Hawaii and is not "bland mush with tiny seeds that can require floss to dislodge". The author must have had a bad one. They can be extremely sweet. The seeds are so small that they go down without noticing and I've never had to use floss. My favorite is a variety with deep red flesh. Mangosteen is so far from its depiction---"to eat a pile of mangosteens is an exe…

Longtime New York Times international correspondent R.W. Apple, a great epicure, called mangosteen the finest fruit in the world.

Re: Eating Thai Fruit Demands Serious Effort but Delivers Sublime Reward

#153

Post by maguay » Tue, Jun 30, 2020, 2:11 AM UTC

9nGQluzmnq3M wrote: post #110

maguay wrote: post #67

Another fun Thai fruit: ตะขบ (`da kop`), which are these tiny custard-like berries that literally spoil within hours after picking them. They make great shade trees, so you can often find them growing over a road in residential areas, and just pick a couple to eat on the spot. You'll never find them in a store, but they're a quintessential part of childhood here.

Is this the same as da kop farang , or are these different fruits/berries? https://th.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%B8%95%E0%B8%B0%E0%B8%82%E0...

Yup, that's the same! Apparently the name has _farang_ in it since the tree isn't originally native to Thailand; Wikipedia says it's a transplant from Mexico, interestingly enough.

Re: Eating Thai Fruit Demands Serious Effort but Delivers Sublime Reward

#154

Post by lisadean » Thu, Jul 02, 2020, 4:46 PM UTC

mjklin wrote: post #42

legitster wrote: post #33

This isn't exclusive to exotic fruit either. In a trip to central Washington, I bought a flat of Pluots (plum/apricot hybrids), and they were one of the most profound things I have ever eaten. So sweet and juicy, they almost burst like water balloons when you took a bite. Less than four hours away from where they are grown, I have yet to find any varieties with the same magic available in grocery stores. They good on…

In Virginia we have pawpaw fruit that taste like custard, but must be eaten soon after picking since they bruise very easily and don’t store or ship well.

This is totally unrelated to this post, but the one I want to comment on (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22093297), I can't. I wonder if I could get a link to the pdf for The Priceless Gift by Cornelius Hirschberg? It's a very hard to find book :)