A Little About Fruit

 We have loved most of the fruit here.  We've had several people gift us fruit-- and it usually comes in large quantities.  We won't complain a bit!

These are Yangshang honey peaches, grown in the neighboring city Wuxi.  Some sources say this is the best fruit in the world.  They are extraordinarily different from the peaches we have in the US.  They have a white flesh and are very sweet--you actually want to eat them slightly green or they are too sweet.  They are very sweet even while green and still have the firmness of an apple.  But they are even better when nearly ripe. Very delicious! We have received about 5 boxes of these, plus a large bag of a similar variety from Wang Jian's tree. This variety is now out of season 😔.

These are a variety of Asian pear--but ones that I haven't seen in the stores that I frequent in the US.  They are the shape of an apple, but have the coloring of a pear, but a much thicker skin  These were so delicious.  We received two boxes of these and they disappeared as well.

With all of this fruit, I needed some way to store it.  One night while on a date, Tom and I ran into a man who makes baskets (and other reed/bamboo pieces) while sitting by his cart waiting for buyers.

So I bought two!  I have loved them. They are made from reeds and the man could make 1 basket a day; it was about $32 for the two baskets. Here is the larger basket. From top and then clockwise:  Asian pear, apple, star fruit, plum, peach.

These grapes were given to us.  This large bunch was about 1/3 of the box and we received 3 boxes.  We had to regift two of the boxes because we just don't care for these grapes.  They are squishy and on the sour side. I froze most of them because the girls like them a little better that way. Note the avocados!  I was super happy to find wonderful looking avocados and in my excitement I bought three.  Sadly they were all thrown away.  After several weeks of different ripening methods, their firmness did not change at all.  I decided to cut one open---firm-ish cubed avocado might be nice, right?  Well, not if the firmness is rubbery and flavorless.  But they brought beauty to my baskets for a very long time!!

This very large bunch of bananas barely fits in my largest basket.  They were given to us by the boy we are teaching English to once a week.  Sadly, these beautiful bananas were not very good either.  Kind of powdery.  (Other bananas have been good.)   

This RT Mart employee is prying open a durian.  Tom says that he doesn't like it; Greta tasted a piece and said it tasted like stale rubbery mango. They also have an odd smell.  In looking up the spelling (because spell check tells me it isn't right), I learned this: "Durian has been described as the most foul-smelling fruit in the world. Its aroma has been compared to raw sewage, rotting flesh and smelly gym socks."  I wouldn't go as far as to say that, but it isn't an especially pleasant smell, for sure.  I should sample it just to say I have, but with all of those glowing reviews, I need to work up some courage!

A durian cut in half--on the left is a container with sections for sale.

Watermelon is mostly purchased like this.  They score them around the middle, then pry it open with their fingers to break the flesh.  I guess you can tell how good it will be by how it breaks.  I haven't been able to tell yet.  One time we were looking to buy a whole watermelon and we were tapping on them as we do in the US and an employee got after us.  Tom said he also said "That is not how you tell if those are ripe." I need to learn a new trick to tell if they are good, I guess. 

I didn't try these when we had a few.  They are a date-like fruit.  Greta said they weren't good, so I'm not sure I'll be buying more.  They are just larger than a cherry.

They have green and yellow kiwis here and we love them both, but we saw this one the other day.  It's a red kiwi.  They are more bell shaped and a bit of a different flavor, but still pretty good.

They have several types of cantaloupe here, none of which (that I've had) are like ours.  They taste just like a cantaloupe, but with a texture more like watermelon.  Quite good!  You can enjoy the translation of the Chinese characters on this label. 

Clockwise: cantaloupe, apple, kiwi, plum, tomato, yellow nectarine (tastes most like Utah peaches than any other variety).   The tomatoes here are red, but with more of a purple hue than an orange hue--but still taste like a store-purchased tomato. I love the variety of fruit here! (But I do wish they had berries; the only berries we've seen are blueberries about $4 per 1/2 cup.) Looking forward to displaying and tasting the fruit all year round!