Archive for the ‘Chinese’ Category
As compared to Western fruits, Asian fruits in general have a very distinctive taste and aroma. While some can be easily acceptable to those new with the rich taste, some only acquire a liking towards them upon numerous trials. One very good example of such a fruit would be the Durian.
Known as the King of Fruits, the Durian has an odor extremely foul like no other fruit, with a formidable-looking skin protecting its soft, tender fruit. Yet, people would go through the trouble of fighting through the thorny-looking façade to experience the juicy bit inside. So what makes this fruit that can weigh up to ten pounds so special?
If you crack open a Durian, you will see sections of seeds neatly arranged, which is covered with a creamy, custard-looking flesh. Some would describe the experience of eating the fruit as eating custards in a lavatory. It is not something people would enjoy doing, but the experience itself is special. Some people would hold their noses as they eat the fruit, attempting to enjoy the fruit without the smell. Yet, the smell lingers in the mouth and clothes for a long while.
The unpleasant smell of the fruit is so strong and lasting, that it is forbidden in hotels, restaurants, and public transports, even where Durians are famous for. This controversial, seasonal Asian fruit is very well-known that there are also specially-made signs that indicate no Durians allowed in the vicinity. Some people try to hide them when they enter the hotel, but the odor is so strong that it easily escapes to the whole floor if opened in a hotel room.
This King of Fruits is also said to be an aphrodisiac. Eating it makes your body feel warm, where Asian cultures believe that it is a “heating” fruit, which needs to be countered by consuming a “cooling” fruit, or by drinking water off the emptied shell of the Durian. One belief about the fruit and its “heating” element is that consuming it with alcohol can be deadly, since alcohol warms your body, too.
Durians are so loved that some cultures have also made Durians into dishes, by making them into flavorings for cakes and candy, or eaten with a meal. It seems that it is unstoppable to how far people would go to eating it.
Longan 
Longan is a tropical fruit, extremely sweet. It is round in shape with brown shell and about 3 cm in diameter. The fresh fruit is juicy and white while the dried one is almost dark. In Chinese food therapy and herbal medicine, it is also believed to have an effect on relaxation. So it is often used in soup and sometimes canned to sell. Longan is almost always harvested in Guangdong and Guangxi.
Litchi 
Litchi is a tropical and subtropical fruit native to China. The fruit is white and delicious with good smell so is mostly eaten fresh. The fruit of litchi grows up to 5 cm long and 4 cm wide. The outside of the fruit is covered by pink-red, roughly-textured rind that is inedible but easily removed to expose a layer of sweet, translucent white flesh. The harvest season is summer so people like to freeze them and eat frozen. It is almost the best fruit in summer to Chinese people but it is thought to give internal “heat” if you eat too many.
Myrica Rubra 
Myrica rubra is also called “yangmei”. Chinese cultivation is concentrated south of the Yangtze River, where it is of considerable economic importance. It is spherical, 1.5–2.5 cm (0.59–0.98 in) in diameter, with a knobby surface. The surface color is typically a deep, brilliant red, but may vary from white to purple. The flesh color is similar to surface color, or somewhat lighter. The flesh is sweet and very tart. At the center is a single seed, with a diameter about half that of the whole fruit. It tastes sweet but a little flavor of a drug so that it also used in medicinal liquor.
Olive 
Olive is now popular all over the world and wildly used as olive oil. But the fruit of olive is delicious and healthy. At the first time, olive is one of the special fruits cultivated in China, especially the tropical area (like the Mingjiang River area). Olive is about 1.5 cm to 2 cm long and 1 cm diameter with a tough seed. The flesh of the olive is green and turns into grape when it is totally ripe. Olives have good perfume and tastes a little bitter at the first time. In china, olive can not only be eaten as fruit but also made into preserved food. Olive has medicinal effect as well. It can relieve the pain of headache and stomach.
Durian 
The durian is the tropical fruit well known as the “king of fruits”. The fruit can grow as large as 30 cm long and 15 cm in diameter. The color is green to brown and it has a special smell that a lot of people do not like. Its shape ranges from oblong to round with sharp angle. The durian are almost always cultivated in Hainan and Hong Kong. A durian of about 1.5 kilograms can cost about 80~100 yuan.
Images: Baidu.com