Indian Fruit, Part III

Eating is clearly one of the pleasures of India. There are so many different tastes and textures here, and certainly something for every palate, from spicy to sweet, from super-healthy to super saturated fatty. As I've already tried to explain in Part 1 and Part 2 of my posts about Indian fruit, I've been blown away by the amount of fruit here that I've never tried before. Here are some more that I've been enjoying.

Mosambi/Sweet Lime

I want to personally apologize to mosambi- this is probably my favorite fruit I've tried here and it took me to my 3rd post on fruit to give it propers. It's basically exactly like an orange in size, texture and sweetness but it tastes like lime! I didn't know such a thing was possible- all the deliciousness of a lime without all that unnecessary puckering! They're delicious on their own, eaten like an orange, or I really love mosambi juice- I could permanently replace OJ with the stuff! I want to make mosambi mimosas sometime, BTW. Needless to say, I wish I could take a whole basket full back home with me!

Indian Bananas

So, naners are naners, you're saying. Well, kind of, except like many things over here, they do it a little different here in India. First thing you'll notice is that naners over here aren't as 'pretty'... they are shorter, stubby, fatter and often have more black spots on them, unlike the pristine, long and skinny ones I'm used to seeing in the States. Maybe like heirloom bananas or something. That being said, I think they're more delicious over here- maybe a little firmer and a little tastier. You see them hanging in shops on the actual stalk- maybe 50 of them or so per stalk, they look really fresh and tempting displayed in this natural way. There are banana plantations everywhere around where I'm staying so I'd imagine they were literally picked hours before I'm eating them, unlike in the States where we have to ship them from Central America. It's also neat that most meals in South India are served on a banana leaf, which serves as an excellent plate that can then be folded up and tossed afterward- perfect compost for growing more naners!

Starfruit

Okay, this has to be one of the coolest looking fruits ever and one of the most descriptive names- it is what it says it is! The whole thing is edible, with a waxy outside and a juicy inside. It's hard to describe but the best I can do is sweet like an orange but tart like a grapefruit. Yum!

Now I just gotta figure out how to get a place in the tropics and start growing all these fruits!!!