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Eating Thai Fruit Demands Serious Effort but Delivers Sublime Reward

nytimes.com

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

#91

Post by phaus »

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…

>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.

I've been trying to find a good one in the states, so far no luck. I've only tried ones with the red flesh. The ones I had weren't bad, they were just flavorless. Not sweet at all. Kind of refreshing, but nothing special.

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

#92

Post by 3131s »

9nGQluzmnq3M wrote: post #85
3131s wrote: post #72

I live in Cambodia where all of these fruits are available, and more. I like every fruit mentioned, except salak, and eat many of them every day. This author comes off as a deeply uncultured American giving a generic impression of a drunken 3-5 day visit to SEA. There are so many errors in this article it's unreal. Jackfruit does not have a "jagged sheath" (that's durian). Dragon fruit is only mushy when it's badly b…

YMMV, but I find that the taste of salak varies wildly. Sometimes they're mealy, dry, astringent and generally unpleasant. Sometimes they're crisp and tart like a tropical apple, and thoroughly delicious.

They are imported here, so that must be it. I have tried them many times, because the skin is so cool, but yeah they were always so dry and never tart.

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

#93

Post by KMag »

foobiekr wrote: post #70
mjklin wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Pawpaws are nothing compared to their better cousins in the Annonaceae family, and in particular the Cherimoya. Downside; they all contain annonacin, which may cause Parkinsons. [1] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annonacin

Whoah. Thanks for the warning. There's a squirrel that keeps trying to stash custard apples in my mother-in-law's planter in Thailand. They're tasty (and delivered by squirrels!), but I didn't know about the toxicity.

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

#94

Post by 3131s »

userbinator wrote: post #53
late2part wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Jackfruit or Durian?

That said, extremely ripe jackfruit will also emit a sickly-sweet smell that's "so sweet it stinks", like an overdose of perfume.

I actually like the smell of rotting jackfruit, but that is a good description.

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

#95

Post by 3131s »

thelittleone wrote: post #39
late2part wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Jackfruit or Durian?

Most definitely Durian. Jackfruit is amazing too though. It's used a lot as a "meat" substitute. For example, jackfruit curry is delicious, nutritious and hearty.

Cooked jackfruit is really good, and you can cook and eat the seeds too.

Jackfruit and palm fruit in curries are some of my favorites.

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

#96

Post by wenc »

3131s wrote: post #72

I live in Cambodia where all of these fruits are available, and more. I like every fruit mentioned, except salak, and eat many of them every day. This author comes off as a deeply uncultured American giving a generic impression of a drunken 3-5 day visit to SEA. There are so many errors in this article it's unreal. Jackfruit does not have a "jagged sheath" (that's durian). Dragon fruit is only mushy when it's badly b…

Author is probably being unnecessarily hyperbolic in order to make the piece interesting.

To me, dragon fruit flesh is similar to that of Asian pears, firm, crisp, sweet and refreshing. The tiny black seeds are akin to strawberry seeds in that they add to the texture but are otherwise unnoticeable.

I had my first taste of a dragon fruit a couple of years ago on a Cathay Pacific flight (amazing inflight meals btw) and was like where have you been my whole life. I knew I had to get some when I returned to the US. I quickly learned that most grocery stores in US do carry them... for about $6 per lb. They’re not cheap treats.

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

#97

Post by pm90 »

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…

I believe you can find canned jackfruit flesh. It tastes very different from fresh ones unfortunately.

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

#98

Post by 3131s »

mohankumar246 wrote: post #83

Jackfruit is one of the most nutritious and colon healthy vegetable on the planet. It is full of healthy fiber and keeps you feeling full long after unlike other vegetables. Many families in South india cosume lot of jackfruit in the season. https://thejackfruitcompany.com/jackfruit-101/

And the seeds are edible when cooked!

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

#99

Post by blago »

3131s wrote: post #72

I live in Cambodia where all of these fruits are available, and more. I like every fruit mentioned, except salak, and eat many of them every day. This author comes off as a deeply uncultured American giving a generic impression of a drunken 3-5 day visit to SEA. There are so many errors in this article it's unreal. Jackfruit does not have a "jagged sheath" (that's durian). Dragon fruit is only mushy when it's badly b…

> Durian does not "stink of death".

It does stink to some (many?) people, much the same way some people think that cilantro tastes like soap. Which is why you see "no durian" stickers in public places throughout Asia.

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

#100

Post by 3131s »

wenc wrote: post #96
3131s wrote: post #72

I live in Cambodia where all of these fruits are available, and more. I like every fruit mentioned, except salak, and eat many of them every day. This author comes off as a deeply uncultured American giving a generic impression of a drunken 3-5 day visit to SEA. There are so many errors in this article it's unreal. Jackfruit does not have a "jagged sheath" (that's durian). Dragon fruit is only mushy when it's badly b…

Author is probably being unnecessarily hyperbolic in order to make the piece interesting. To me, dragon fruit flesh is similar to that of Asian pears, firm, crisp, sweet and refreshing. The tiny black seeds are akin to strawberry seeds in that they add to the texture but are otherwise unnoticeable. I had my first taste of a dragon fruit a couple of years ago on a Cathay Pacific flight (amazing inflight meals btw) and…

Here they are $0.75 a kilo at the moment, sorry!
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