Green Again: Ripening Fruit

Getting up early and walking around the back of the house yesterday to watch my grandson play in the wading pool that his father so graciously blew up, I had a chance to check out the pomelo (jabon) and strawberry guava trees that I hadn't seen in a month or so.

The jabon are getting pretty big. There must be a couple of dozen on the tree, and they're about the size of a jumbo softball (you know, the ones with a 20-inch circumference). Although they're still green, some are beginning to show a hint of yellow.

Give 'em a couple of weeks or so, and they'll be turning yellow, ripe enough to pick and devour.

The strawberry guavas are ripening and if we don't pick them every day, they drop to the ground as bird food. Now, these guava aren't really sweet and in fact, they're pretty tart. But if you get enough of them, mash 'em up and strain out the seeds, you can make a pretty tasty guava jelly or jam out of them.

That's because they lend flavor to all that sugar you have to use. It's pretty good, but I'm lazy and haven't made guava jam in decades.

Then, there's the Pirie mango tree. Many fruit have survived the wind and rain lashings of the past few weeks, and they too are getting big. In fact, we picked the first of the season as soon as it turned red and yellow.

Of course, I didn't partake. I don't like the cloying perfume of the fruit. But the wife was in seventh heaven as she peeled it and cut it up for the family (and my son, who was visiting with my grandson from the mainland).

Jabon, yes! Strawberry guavas, well, maybe. Pirie mangos ... er, no thank you.