The Weekend- Part II- a new fruit!

While US foods were featured earlier in the day, later we bought a new fruit at the grocery store. Brad had tried it before and thought it was delicious. Here in Indonesia, it's called Jambu air (meaning water fruit). Another name is rose apple. There are a lot of varieties. We bought a pack of 6. They are highly perishable and bruise easily. They must be fresh-picked to be crisp which is what you want. The small tree/large shrub is a member of the myrtle family and the genus is Syzgium. The Java rose apple ( which might be what we bought) is S.samarangense. The rose apple varieties are native to the East Indies and Malay but have been cultivated and have been naturalized in many parts of India, SE Asia, and Pacific Islands. A variety or 2 is grown in California according to my research. The fruit is sort of bell shaped and 3-4 inches long. Colors range from white to pale green or green to reddish purple or crimson to deep purple. The description I found said it had a flavor similar to a snow pear. If you've had one of those, you'll apparently know what the rose apple tastes like. I do agree that the texture and consistency of the rose apple is very similar to the part of a watermelon between the pink part and the green, inedible rind. It has a lot of water to it also like watermelon. There is a definite crispness to it so that's why I described it as the part between the pink and rind part of a watermelon. The flavor is pear-like, but it reminds me more of something else I've tasted but I can't recall what that something is yet. Because they are so perishable they are often used to make jams and jellies. I will be on the lookout for rose apple jam. Sounds delicious. Here are the six rose apples along with a dragonfruit and some granny smith apples after their washing session. I used the ozone machine today.

Here is the inside of a rose apple that B had bitten in half.  No need to peel it, but generally you cut off the top and the bottom ends (bottom end not seen in the photo above). It's a very deep recess and can trap dirt and/or bacteria in there. Even the locals cut it off.  There is a very small core sometimes, but you hardly notice it.