Fresh Fruits 101
MILLIE: At a young age, I learned tips on how to buy fresh fruits from my Lola Asiang, who used to take me along on her market trips. My lola had several sukis or favorite fruit vendors in all the markets she frequented. And so it comes as second nature and I find it most enjoyable.
I regularly buy fresh fruits for my Dad and it never seems like a chore. It is part of my weekly routine, to bring fresh flowers for my mom while shopping for fresh fruits of the season.
KARLA: When neither mom nor lolo have time to buy fruits, our household help does that chore. And my usual finicky foodie lolo complains about how they bought the wrong one or how our helper doesn’t know how to buy fruits. And just as Mom learned from her lola, I am learning from my Lolo Joe. He always says that the best way is to use your five senses: see, hear, feel/touch, smell, and the surest test is to taste the fruit. But then again, sometimes he makes up his own guidelines to fool people and get a good laugh.
He frequently tells me this story about when he was out buying watermelon with his sister-in-law. She had asked him to help her pick one and lolo saw this as an opportunity. He then told her that the best way to find a good watermelon is by holding it up and knocking on it. If it knocks back, then it means it’s a good and sweet one. Naturally, being someone who looked up to my lols, she immediately lifted the watermelons at the fruit stand one by one, knocked on them and placed it close to her ear to wait for the watermelon to knock back. Oh, boy! Lolo surely had a good laugh and till this day, he sheds tears re-telling the story, every time! But he wasn’t totally off-track; fruit vendors can usually tell when the fruit is ripe with the sound of a pitik.
A seasonal favorite is the lychee, available usually in July for a very brief period. According to my Lolo Joe, the Mandarin variety is the sweetest and the seed is tiny. His story goes that this is the fruit that the emperor of China used to give his concubines. Mom usually buys it from her wholesaler suki that delivers them to us in plastic crates and which my Lolo Joe enjoys giving away to his special friends and doctors in appreciation of his gratitude.
Lanzones is another one of my Lolo Joe’s seasonal favorites. He says that the presence of ants crawling around the fruit cluster signifies that the fruit is very sweet. Try it if you don’t believe me! My lolo’s advice is to pick the fruit with the eye in the center so that it’s easier to open.
Lolo Joe’s favorite fruit is the atis, which is in season during his birthday month, October. He says the bigger the eyes, the less seeds it has. He adores the giant atis from Bangkok but finds it too expensive. Occasionally, Mom and I buy for him and tell him it came from Mom’s friend Janet, who used to frequent Bangkok. Nowadays, my cousin Mikee works as front desk manager at The Peninsula Hotel in Bangkok, so he is able to bring or send some home for Lolo Joe more often.
Santol is another one of his favorites and he likes it big! It’s hard to tell if the fruit is sweet unless you taste it, but a yellow color is usually a sign that it is ready to eat. Lolo always jokes his grandkids that if we want to learn how to kiss, we should eat santol.
MILLIE: My Dad’s standard must-have-every-day fruits are papaya, banana and pineapple. He eats all three for breakfast and it sort of balances his morning routine. The papaya and pineapple make him get rid of unwanted waste with ease. Dad likes solo papaya because the portion is just right for him and it is normally sweeter. We normally buy one ripe enough for tomorrow and one still hard and semi-yellow and green, to ripen at least two days from the time purchased. When ripe and full yellow, it’s normally stored in the ref until ready to be eaten. If the papaya is still green, we wrap it in newspaper and store at room temperature for about two to three days from purchase. If you want to eat it sooner and the papaya is not ripe yet, cut the top end to let it ripen faster.
Dad prefers the pineapples from the lowlands as they are sweeter, like those marked Dole. The tiny ones sold in fruit stalls along Tagaytay’s main road are from the highlands and also sweet with a little tang. So are those from General Santos, which bear the Del Monte brand. Pineapples are picked at the right time as they don’t ripen by themselves.
When buying, choose one that has a pineapple-ish smell and doesn’t look lamog, or that has no moist or moldy areas. Be sure to press the bottom of the fruit with your thumb or fingers. When the flesh yields to light finger pressure, the fruit is surely overripe. Normally, when orange-yellow, the fruit is ready to be eaten. One may also request the fruit vendor to cut open the fruit so you can check to see if the flesh is golden-yellow inside, tender, juicy, sweet and ready to be eaten. If pale yellow, chances are the fruit is still unripe and sour. Another way to check if the pineapple is ripe is by tapping the fruit with the palm of your hand and when it gives a muffled sound, it’s a sure indication that the fruit is ripe and ready.
The banana my dad likes is the Lakatan variety and it is known to help replenish the potassium he loses from the diuretic he takes each morning. It is best to buy it greenish and left on a banana hanger to let it ripen at home. The Latundan variety is smaller and cheaper and good for treating a bad case of LBM. My mom loves the Cavendish type and used to eat it with peanut butter and a glass of milk. Bananas should not be stored in the ref as the peel turns brown.
The saba variety is the cooking banana, which we either fry or boil. Dad likes the saba from the Tagalog region, which we normally buy and allow to ripen at home. When overripe, it is perfect for making banana fritters the way my lola used to.
My mornings start with a tall glass of chilled but unsweetened fresh orange juice. I like dalandan or native oranges when in season as they have a slight tang. Sunkist oranges are sweeter. When you press the fruit with your fingers and if it feels firm, the fruit is just right. If your fingers become embedded and the fruit looks like a flat tire, the orange is overripe. When you smell the fruit and you get a whiff of the citrusy smell, then it’s good.
KARLA: Mangoes, both green and yellow, are a household favorite. Unless we are ready to eat them, we usually buy the mangoes green and let them ripen to a golden yellow. Lolo Joe always reminds us that, often, the yellow mangoes are ripened carburo-style, meaning carbide is added to speed up the ripening process. Thus, he prefers to let the mangoes ripen naturally by wrapping them up in old newspaper to be stored at room temperature. Lolo Joe likes to eat his ripe mangoes greenish-yellow or manibalang because he likes it with a tang. On the other hand, Mom eats manibalang mangoes with bagoong, patis or rock salt. Ha! It is a fact that once the rainy season starts, mangoes are no longer as sweet as during the summer months.
I love the smell of sweet mangoes. I take care to choose them not so much by its looks (yellow and flawless), but more for its feel (plump and firm). Sometimes, mangoes are scarred or have brownish pigments but are very, very sweet. Lolo Joe also enjoys his mangoes au naturel or with no less than two scoops of vanilla ice cream, usually for dessert.
We hope you find these practical and personal tips to buying your everyday fruits useful.
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