Summer fruit

Cuisine Food & Drink
1

Note: I’ll add the pinyin once I figure out how.

One of the best things about summer is the wonderful fruit. (Omni, control yourself).

watermelon (red) 西瓜 xigua (yellow) 小玉 xiaoyu
musk melon 香瓜,甜瓜

custard apple 釋枷 shi4jia1
pale green skin with bumps, shape like a round pine cone, a sweet fruit with many seeds. This delicate fruit falls apart easily when ripe so is sold firm, ripen at home. When ripe it still green but will be soft. Break apart with your hands and eat the flesh (but not the skin and seeds)
dragon

2

Hey John, nice post. I have been trying to eat as much as possible before the Summer fruits pass me by.

I wanted to ask if you knew the correct English word for the jizi that go into jizi cha. They are those little limes or lemons.

You also didn’t put Durian on the list. Is that because all durian are imported or because you don’t like it? :wink:

3

Nice! Thanks for the translation.

Do you know if “lien oo” is also called apple pear? I’m planning to bring some back and need to tell the customs officer what it is.

Also, you failed to mention guava “bala” the big green Taiwanese kind, and the small yellow ones, too. But bala is available year round here.

4

I think those little juzi things are called kumquats.

My favorite now are those “釋枷 鳳梨” things, a cross between a custard apple and some kind of African fruit. they are unbelievable.

passion fruit are great and cheap now–get the wrinkliest ones you can find, they are the sweetest.

the best thing about watermelon is dunking it in red wine before eating.

5

[quote=“914”]Nice! Thanks for the translation.

Do you know if “lien oo” is also called apple pear? I’m planning to bring some back and need to tell the customs officer what it is.

Also, you failed to mention guava “bala” the big green Taiwanese kind, and the small yellow ones, too. But bala is available year round here.[/quote]Lianwu is wax apple. Still, I don’t where you’re going to but customs officers in most places aren’t too impressed with the carrying of fresh produce.

I Googled for “apple pear” and found that that is a term for what is normally termed a pear here; that is one that is large, round, of crisp texture rather than soft like a western pear, and resembling an apple.
nv.essortment.com/pearsapple_rldo.htm

Bala is Minnanhua/Hokkien/Taiwanese. The Mandarin equivalent is bale (ba1le4 I think).

6

Is that the same as jinju ningmong cha? I think they might be kumquats.
sc.essortment.com/whatisakumqua_rkpk.htm

Another fruit worth mentioning, although I think it’s a spring fruit, is pi2pa2, loquats.
meme.essortment.com/loquat_rjrg.htm

7

[quote=“914”]Nice! Thanks for the translation.

Do you know if “lien oo” is also called apple pear? I’m planning to bring some back and need to tell the customs officer what it is.
[/quote]

wax apple, bellfruit or wax jambu (as they are known in Florida).

8

Sounds like you are recommending people refrigerate and then drink their own spittle? :loco:

9

Sounds like you are recommending people refrigerate and then drink their own spittle? :loco:[/quote]
Perhaps he hopes it will ferment and become alcoholic, like that mares milk brewed by some tribal people.

10

WHAT!!! No crispy melon??? My favorite. What I would do for some crispy melon. Not available on the Florida gulf coast as far as I know. :frowning:

11

In Nantou County, you can see burning ovens along the road where they heat up sugarcane juice.
Nice, though you’ll taste more of the ginger they add than the sugar cane.
Had some after a trip to Nantou last October, the stalls are on the road out of Puli in the direction of Caotun and the second highway.

12

[quote=“enzo+”]In Nantou County, you can see burning ovens along the road where they heat up sugarcane juice.
Nice, though you’ll taste more of the ginger they add than the sugar cane.
Had some after a trip to Nantou last October, the stalls are on the road out of Puli in the direction of Caotun and the second highway.[/quote]Is that what those ovens are? The smell coming from them is gorgeous. So is the product a drink or is it some kind of caramel or candy?

I don’t suppose they have them at the moment though – surely that’s a winter thing?

13

Kumqats are donggua.

I’m kind of weird in that I don’t liek eating most fruit, but I love drinking it.

Brian

14

[quote=“Bu Lai En”]Kumqats are donggua.

I’m kind of weird in that I don’t liek eating most fruit, but I love drinking it.
[/quote]I thought Donggua was winter melon.

I’m weird because I like drinking bitter_melon juice in the summer. I have a bit of apple juice with it, though, to make it a little sweeter.

15

Damn, you’re right. But now I’m really confused. My friend was a real kumqat fan and we found kumqat juice for him and it was called ‘donggua’ 冬瓜 (literally ‘winter melon’). Then he boguht it in a sort of cake like form int he nightmarket. Frankly, I didn’t have a clue what either kumqat or donggua was, but he said it was kumqat and the guy selling it said it was donggua :s

Brian

16

I think it was probably winter melon drink and cake that your friend found. Kumquat juice is sold in my supermarket but it’s extremely sour and has to be diluted.

I like my first sip of winter melon drink but it’s made so sweet that it soon gets sickly. I’d like to make my own with very little sugar.

17

I have a vote here for kumquat as ‘jinju’. I’m pretty sure that kumquats are those little orange things that grow on potted bushes you see around Chinese New Year.

Edited: So it sounds like it might be those ‘jinji’ you mentioned :slight_smile:

18

Thanks for the correction on the jinju. I’d always thought I heard ‘jinji’ but ju makes more sense.

19

wonderful post john. i am a great follower of such things. What the fudge are “Nu Er li” ? i got given some by a student, they are still softening in a cupboard. They came from Tainan county. Even the Taiwanese in these parts dont seem to know what to do with them.

I reckon Lychees are a bit stinky like, and love the manguo bin ze at the local juice stand. Makes english drinks seem like dogshit milkshake.