And watermelon,too.
1 Like
the Taiwanese eat salt with fruit because it makes their taste enhanced. wierd but true. especially with wax apple.[/quote]
Really, I thought the salt is to prevent discoloration? Cut up some apple and it will start going brown before your guests have finished the plate. Add salt and it will stay white.
That too !
no no no, my question was since there are a lot of chemicals left over in the fruit, like the chemical they spray to keep the bugs away etc, not only they rinse it before eating it but they SOAK THE FRUIT in SALT WATER to get rid of the chemicals. I was wondering if I should do that with wax apple too.
by chemical I mean like insecticides; pesticides
good! so your chemicals will be nicely salted. this enhances the flavor on the way down, before they slowly rot away your insides.
salt doesnt do anything to chemicals?
probably soak them to enhance flavor like other people said… i know we always salt the cut pears and apples and stuff cause of the discoloration thing… i never liked salty pears though =/
[quote=“cire”]salt doesnt do anything to chemicals?
[/quote]
it probably does something but who knows what. i doubt it magically whisks them away.
And watermelon,too.[/quote]
My wife does that, I believe it’s to take away the acidity , especially pineapples, grapes, tomatoes, (veg, I know!) which cause ulcers in your mouth. It is also to add to the taste of course.
The soaking in water thing is to help reduce the pesticide, it should help with reducing the skin conc’n so I guess it’s a good idea. Is the salt to help dissolving of the pesticide into the solution or deactivation, perhaps.
The banana that the poster loves earlier is actually called ‘ba jiao’. I believe it’s the wild form of banana. It is tastes unbelievable compared to the regular long bananas which have been enhanced for size (cue the jokes) and fast growth etc. I told my friend to try it and he didn’t stop raving for a week about it. You’ve got to eat it when it’s ripe, yellow and the right season.
Ba jiao is like a banana on steroids, is how I would describe the flavour.
I am a huge fan of Taiwan fruit and happy to see lots of other foreigners feel the same way. It’s just amazing how such a small and crowded island grows so many things, but from temperate to sub-tropical to even tropical fruits. I had a friend who had visited Thailand before and she kept claiming their mangoes and guava ‘bala’ were better, but that was because she had a neg. attitude to a lot of things about Taiwan I think. Taiwan ‘bala’ are awesome too even though some of them have been genetically enhanced to grow much bigger and lost some flavour, there are many different breeds, pink and white and one that is called milk ‘bala’, I’m not sure if they actually add milk somewhere along the line or if it was really bred like that. Taiwan is a world leader in the breeding of many varieties of fruits and helps lots of their poor allies develop their agriculture tech, I saw a report about El Salvador or one of those countries where the local double or tripled their income from growing Taiwan breeds of ‘bala’ and I just thought that was great!
My favourite Taiwan fruits would be ‘bala’ , ba jiao, wax apples (what a great fruit it’s basically water but still tastes very refreshing), taiwan pears, passion fruit eaten with a spoon, rocks! There are many interesting preserved and fermented fruits (and veggies) and they deserve to be checked out to try something different, an acquired taste but really add new flavours to the palate.
I put my comments on Taiwan as a food mecca in another topic!
does your wife soak wax apple in salt water?
Not sure if she does…just washes them I think… maybe good idea to soak them
Well, most of the local fruit here really is first class and there’s a great fruit market we’ve started going to here in Taoyuan which has great local produce. What I find somewhat strange though is that imported Japanese fruit sells for more than the local stuff and is considered much nicer because it’s from Japan…
Quick question to Belgian Pie if you’re reading this, what is the fruit on the second and third picture you posted, they taste great and my gf says they’re some kind of mix between a custard apple and pineapple. Either which way I have to say it’s one of the best fruits I’ve ever had. Although my all time favourite has to be fresh apricots off the trea in Californa… haven’t tasted anything quite like it.
like most things from japan it’s actually pretty damn good.
believe it’s called an atamoya. actually a cross between a custard apple and some type of African fruit.
It looks like you’re spot on 
Can’t seem to get enough of them right now, even though they’re quite expensive, but ho hum
double post
like most things from Japan it’s actually pretty damn good.
believe it’s called an atamoya. actually a cross between a custard apple and some type of African fruit.[/quote]
That atamoya looks very interesting. What’s the Chinese for that?
It’s interesting Japanese fruit is popular here, meanwhile Taiwanese fruit is highly prized in Japan also (mountain pears, the square watermelons, bananas, citrus…). They make a killing importing it to Japan and selling at ridiculous prices.
Why does Taiwanese fruit taste so good. Well I think that there are a lot of old varieties still grown in the mountains here coupled with constant introduction of new varieties following breeding programs. The climate and soil are good and they are produced locally so fresher and faster to market (no need to artificially ripen). They are grown on smaller farms which probably affects the breeds they choose and techniques used. For instance guava ‘bala’ seem to consist of many different varieties that ripen at different times of year, thereby ensuring an almost constant supply through the year but of different types (you’ll notice the different types appearing seasonally), it seems some of the farmer grow different breeds on the same farm. Bala is an example of a fruit that was originally tiny and available in only one season and has now been bred by natural techniques and by genetic engineering to take on the characteristics of a new fruit almost.
鳳梨釋迦, fengli shijia, other way around in taiwanese- 釋迦鳳梨 shitgiao onglai. not sure if there’s a more scholarly name
Its liu ding season right now. I’m having 6 every morning these days. Even bought an automatic squeezer. Cheap as chips. Make sure you buy only the ones that feel heavy for their size as they’re the juciest ones.
[quote=“Tempo Gain”][quote=“headhonchoII”]
That atamoya looks very interesting. What’s the Chinese for that?
[/quote]
鳳梨釋迦, fengli shijia, other way around in Taiwanese- 釋迦鳳梨 shitgiao onglai. not sure if there’s a more scholarly name[/quote]
Thanks will definitely check it out.
Whats liu dung?
Guess there is no variety of grapefruit here that isn’t super bitter?
The ones I tried from Carrefour and from the side of the street are just too bitter for me
Also I have grown quite fond of one variety of orange (very sweet). The orange is flattened at the top and the bottom and round in the middle. They cost like 25NTD each, are as juicy as hell, but are worth it.