I eat 2 servings of fresh fruit a day because I think it must do some good - fiber, enzymes, possible cancer-protection, etc. Like most male westerners, I can’t actually buy it and cut it up, so I hire someone from an impoverished 3rd world country to do it for me (she does other household chores, too). The other day, she brought back some new fruit from the market. When I asked what it was, she said she hadn’t a clue.
A description:
Color is deep yellow-orange, similar to mango
Skin is not shiny, but smooth and leathery to touch (also similar to a mango)
Shape and size is idential to a hen’s egg
A very thick stalk (for the fruit’s size). Nearly half an inch in diameter. Very dark green
The flesh is roughly the same color and consistency as an apricot
The stone in the middle is quite big, about half the size of the whole fruit, and much the same shape, located right in the middle of the fruit
Not much flavor. Faintly apricot-like, perhaps. Fairly sweet.
The stall holders at the market would provide a name in Cantonese, which would get us nowhere. It’s probably from S China.
I think it may in fact be a Persimmon. I’ve tried Persimmons once or twice and I base my assumption on a couple of things:
1.) The description you gave. You know Persimmons have a big cap-like reminant of a “stem” on top.
2.) Your foreign housekeeper could identify it. Why should she be able to? Persimmons are a New World fruit.
3.) Your description of the taste. Persimmons are very bitter when unripe, but relatively tasteless when over ripe. The trick is to get them in that crucial time when they have the most taste but least tartness.
I have to agree with Jim B. I’ve worked with produce for over 10 years and by the description you give, without actually seeing the fruit, I would say it does sound like a Persimmon.
Could it be a loquat? It fits the description almost perfectly. It has a clump of seeds rather than one large seed, but the clump clooks almost like one big seed - there’s no pulp between he seeds.
scr4 has a good guess. It’s called a pipa in Mandarin Chinese. The other guess I have is a baby mango, but since you know what a mango is, just think on one that is maybe 2 inches long and that’s a baby mango.
Not a tamarillo, of which I’ve never heard, btw, and definitely not a persimmon, with which I am well-acquainted and not hugely impressed. And, definitely not a mango of any age.
It’s a loquat !!! Thank you, scr4.
Mine were more perfectly-formed than those in the picture, but that’s definitely the one, right down to the apricot-ness, flavornessless and S Chinese origins.
Of course it’s a loquat. Who ever heard of persimmons having a big seed in the middle? A persimmon doesn’t even come close to the description in the OP.
Loquats are believed in Europe to be originally from Japan because that is where Europeans first found them but the fruit is originally from China.
When I read the description, other than the one large seed, I thought it might be a Japanese Medlar, a fruit I first heard about recently when I was in Portugal.
I did a quick search, and low and behold, a Japanese Medlar is a loquat!!
You learn something new every day - especially on this site!
Sailor - thanks. Yes, that’s definitely the same thing. Look at the thickness of the stalks - seems redundant when you consider how small an apple’s stalk is. Maybe it’s windy where they grow these things.
To be honest, I wasn’t hugely impressed with the flavor, though it’s a nice addition to a mixed fruit salad, for the consistency (a bit chewy).
A friend has just arrived from HongKong with a load of another of my favorite fruits which in Canton they call “dragon’s eyes” but I have no idea of the Engliah name. As we were eating them O thought they reminded me of the loquat in a way and I said they may be related but she says no way.
Anybody know the English name of the dragon eyes and if they are related in any way to the loquat? Dragon eyes are smaller and the flesh is more the color of the grape flesh but the taste resembles that of the loquat. The seed is also large in proportion, like the loquat. The skin is harder than the loquat and comes off in one piece rather than being attached and having to peel.
Did a bit of searching on “dragon” “eye” and (fruit-in-Japanese) to find a page http://www.foods.co.jp/special/HONGKONG/rongan.html that includes the Latin name: “Euphoria longana”. From there on it’s plain sailing. Here’s an interesting page about it -
you can find the dragon’s eyes fruits in most asian grocery stores (canned, frozen, fresh). usually it’s translated to “longyan” “logan” or some variation of that. If you get fresh ones, be sure to check the to part of the fruit where the stem joins the seed for worms. =P
Loongan - dragons’ eyes - are great. (Or at least they were until kryptonite2 mentioned worms.) I like the way you can peel them by just squeezing them til the skin splits and neatly falls off. Why can’t they make oranges like that?
Imaginatorium, welcome to the board and thanks to all for the info. Yes, I am aware they are called longan but my main question was if they are, in any way, related to the loquat.
I think the answer is “not closely related”. The loquat is in rosaceae, the rose/plum family, whereas the longan is in this soapberry family. The Wayne’s Word people say that the longan is a “close cousin” of the lychee, so these are much closer.
According to this, the longan is in Order Sapindales and the loquat in Order Rosales, within some grouping I’ve never heard of, just below the dicotyledons. Hope this helps!
My name’s actually Brian, btw, family Chandler, suborder Chandleres, order Chandleraceae, subphylum Archaeochandi, phylum oh I give up it gets to you this stuff
