Unleash the Authentic Woman in You – Faey Szeuw

For those of you who love to try different tastes and flavors, the fruits of the Philippines will be a delightful experience for you!

As for me, a fruit lover, I asked a friend of mine to helped me create this small list of some interesting tropical treats. Below I also included some pictures  I took of the unique fruits mentioned– along with a brief description of them. However, the marang photo was borrowed from flickr.com.

Be sure to check these mouth watering fruits out!

And as an added bonus from my friend, she made this small chart showing the availability of the fruits I mentioned below.

The mango is one of the most famous fruits here in the Philippines—and somehow I know why. When they aren’t ripe and still colored green, you can still eat the fruit. It’s quite sour but very crunchy, and the people here eat it with salt and a shrimpy paste they call bagoong. Me – I dip it with chili pepper and fish sauce. (A spicy tongue, I inherited from my mother’s Laotian background.) Then when they are ripe, with its golden yellow color –it’s just so sweet!

They also have what they call the ponkan, which is the Philippines’ version of an orange. The larger ones are very sweet and juicy, and unlike the orange, the skin can be easily peeled off by hand. (I honestly think these are mandarins.)

The mangosteen is often considered as one of the most delicious fruits in the world—and again, I can only agree to that. It is a perfectly round-shaped fruit on the outside, with a deep purple color. You only have to gently break through the skin and that is where the white meat is—which is what you’ll eat. What really intrigued me to this fruit is that not only is it sweet, but also somewhat milky.

As stated in my personal fruit rulebook, you can’t leave the Philippines without tasting the marang first. It’s the country’s local name for the monkey jackfruit, and as what the name says, it looks a lot like a jackfruit only that its texture is finer—like a brush—and the fruits are all attached to one ball.

They also have what we call as a rambutan—which for me already has a very unique name. It looks like a small red fiery ball and it easily reminds me of the lychee. It’s easy to open by hand and my —it’s one of my most favorites.

The lanzones is another favorite of mine. They look a lot like grapes, but they have thicker stems and skins and they are colored a pale yellow. Inside, though, the meat is formed like an orange and it’s so sweet, only that you have to have to avoid the seeds ‘cos they leave a bitter taste in the mouth.

Bananas, my friends! Who hates bananas? And they have no seeds and are easily peeled! It’s also a good source of potassium and other vitamins. The folks here usually call it the complete food.

Another favorite of mine is the guava. It is immediately eaten as it is—no need to peel and no seeds to avoid (you could actually eat the seeds, but be careful because the seeds are hard)—but the guava flesh is amazingly delicious. It’s very crunchy and has a some what sweet taste to it.

There are still a lot of fruits that I haven’t mentioned here yet, so I encourage you to visit the country and see for yourself what else is in store here for you!