adventures in fruit

look! it's a cherimoya! they were on sale at the grocery store, and i've heard that they are also called custard apples, which sounds good.

the lady behind me in line was very complimentary re: my cherimoya-choosing skills until i told her that someone who worked there had picked it out for me. that kind of lowered me in her estimation. but she cheered up when she started telling me about her time in spain where she first tasted the wonders of the cherimoya and apparently ate it for dinner for like two weeks or something. people always like to talk about their travels.

ever since i bought it half an hour ago, i keep thinking the word in my head with different syllables emphasized. CHERimoya. cheriMOYa. cherimoYA. i haven't cut into it yet, but i'm excited. CHERIMOYA!

... later that day ...

so. we ate some cherimoya. you guys, cherimoya is SO WEIRD. at first it tastes like blue cheese (?!), then it changes to tasting all fermenty (??!), then it tastes sweet with a weird background of something savory.

i cannot in all good conscience recommend it, exactly, but it was a taste sensation. it's worth trying, but we could only really eat a few bites of it. very interesting. cherimoya!

luckily i also got some exciting citrus, which was much better. above is a lovely meyer lemon. these are the best ever. they're extremely fragrant and slightly sweet. i use them in cocktails (peel some zest and add it to a martini or add it and some of the juice to a gin & tonic) or things like lemon curd. they're also good with fish - you can slice one into thin rounds and lay it over halibut or something. fantastico!

the other citrus thing i got was called "cocktail citrus" at the store. it's apparently part pomelo and part mandarin. it has a lot of seeds, but i liked the slight bitterness. it was great in a gin & tonic and i could see it being good in some kind of tequila drink as well. time to get some more and do some experimenting.

listening to: red house painters. trying not to think about cherimoya.