Do you know this fruit?

[Steel Horse Bailey]

Howdy!

This isn't very old West, but it IS a food question.

Perhaps Singing Bear or any of y'all that have spent some time in the tropical areas might be able to help.

Back in 1958-1959, when I was a lad of 8, my Mother and I lived in Brasil (Brazil) for a year.  We were in the town of Vicosa, in the district of Minas Gerias, which is about 250 miles north of Rio de Janerio, and not far from the equator.  Vicosa is the home of the University de Brasil, an agricultural university.  In our back yard we had 2 trees: one was a tangerine tree and the other produced a vivid green fruit, perhaps the size of a tennis ball.  (My recollection of the sizes and spellings are a bit hazy - sorry!)  You could peel the fruit, much like an orange or even easier, like a tangerine.  Inside, the peel was a bright pink and the peel was fairly thick.  The center - the eating part - was a pink ball of seeds, that was mildly sweet, and very tasty.  I don't remember that we ate the pink rind from the peelings, just the pink seeds.  The ball of seeds was perhaps the size of a golf or ping-pong ball.

Any ideas?  Thanks ahead of time.

SHB

[Singing Bear]

The colors you describe bring to mind guava.  Depending on the variety, it can be eaten when still green.  Most have pink pulp and seeds and the peel is usually about 1/4" thick and can also be eaten and most grow to about a tennis ball size.   Only thing, though, is we don't usually peel them before eating.  I suppose if one "peeled" a guava, they would end up with something you describe.  Would help if you could provide a link for pics. 

Btw, if it is indeed guava, the peel is the tastiest part of the fruit.  If you eat too much of the seeds, it can cause constipation.  The young leaves of the tree can be eaten to reduce the symptoms of diarrhea.  It's an old plantation remedy.  Small kid time, a lot of us kids used to end up getting enemas or a dose Milk of Magnesia for eating too much guava when we played in the surrounding gulches and forested areas.     

[Steel Horse Bailey]

Howdy!

SB - I realize it's been nearly 50 years ago, but I sure don't remember THAT kind of reaction!    We ate those durn things pretty much daily, so ...

I'll have to go back and check out all my 3.5" floppy disks to see if I can "link" any info to ya.    Oh, wait - it's even earlier than that.  Shoot, back then there were still a FEW wire recorders in use around the globe - and I don't think Al Gore was even born-ed yet! 

[Delmonico]

Some pictures here.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guava

Botany I find wika real good on.

[Singing Bear]

Howdy!

SB - I realize it's been nearly 50 years ago, but I sure don't remember THAT kind of reaction!    We ate those durn things pretty much daily, so ...

I'll have to go back and check out all my 3.5" floppy disks to see if I can "link" any info to ya.    Oh, wait - it's even earlier than that.  Shoot, back then there were still a FEW wire recorders in use around the globe - and I don't think Al Gore was even born-ed yet! 

Well, eating them everyday is one thing.  Eating 5 to 10 in one sitting everyday, that'll do ya.  The latter being our problem. 

For me, 45 years ago running around in our gulches, where I live, gave access to at least 3 types of guava and 2 types of passion fruit as well as thimble berries, rose apples and mountain apples.  Sure wish I could share these with my daughter.  Gulches are now fenced off and wild fruit trees are hard to come by these days.   I'm trying to find a little of each to grow in our backyard.  So far we've got one Kona orange tree, one Okinawan tangerine tree, a poha bush, one guava tree and one lilikoi vine.  Our "to plant" list includes watermelon papaya (the red meat variety, really sweet), dragon fruit (a variety of cactus) and purple passion fruit.   We don't have enough space for anymore trees. 

[Steel Horse Bailey]

Hmmmmm ....

Thanks for the ideas, SB and the pit-chers, Glen.

Keeping in mind - my memory certainly ISN'T perfect - the guava looks sorta kinda a little bit mostly like what I remember.    The Wiki said that there were over 100 varieties and that it was native to Northern South America, so Vicosa, which is more central would be NO stretch for them to be present.  That would fit.  Now the ones in the picture (of the outside) look similar, but I remember a MUCH more vivid green than in most of the pictures (except the most green ones in the one picture), but the texture and overall look of the ones pictured looks about right.  The innards are what differ the most - and I suppose it could STILL be explained simply as a different variety than those shown.  As I remember, the seed-ball center was pretty tightly packed and the rind would easily peel away, leaving a pretty much solid mass of seeds you could hold in your hand.  And SB, it wouldn't have been out of line for us to have eaten 3-5 a day, but probably spread out over the whole day, not all at once!

The biggest challenge is knowing that just because I REMEMBER it one way, doesn't necessarily mean that's the way it actually was!    I have a LOT of memories of that time and wish I could find out more as an adult.  Let's see: being called "gringo" when I arrived; my first - and ONLY - couple pairs of handmade, highly decorated Cowboy boots [that cost less than $2!] (a cowboy down there is called a "Gaucho," and wears a leather hat that looks like a Campaign Hat - or Drill Sergeant/Trooper hat); emptying the US Embassy in Rio by "accidentally" pulling the fire alarm  {Hey!  I didn't know what that thing on the wall was or what it would DO}; eating liver & onions - and liking it  ; Mother's powder blue & white '56 Chevy she took there, which REALLY stood out amongst all the other cars - ALL black; cutting down bamboo for kid projects; cutting open a stalk of sugar cane (which along with coffee grew ALL around there) and sucking on it instead of candy; and ... well - the list goes on.  Where's a Time Machine when ya need it?!! 

My dear Mother doesn't remember the fruit, particularly.  SHE said they might have been guavas, so there ya go.  She remembers the tangerine tree and while not a plant, she remembers the red ants.  By the bazillions.  And about 3/4" to 1" long.    THAT was a household challenge!

Oh, well.
Thanks again, pards.

[Singing Bear]

During the years, I've seen guava with rough skin, smooth skin, pear shaped and round.  Some are ripe green while others need to be yellow.  The pear guavas have a white pulp while most others run pink.  The sour guavas are most popular for homemade guava jellies and the sweet ones are popular eaten on the green side with a sauce of shoyu and sugar.  We also have at least 2 varieties of cherry guavas, small red ones.  Most popular for making jelly.  Some are sweet and some sour.  My aunt mixes the large sour guavas with sweet red ones for her jellies. 

One thing I've not seen here is a guava with a seed/pulp center as dense as you described.  One thing for certain is if a home owner found such a guava tree growing in their yard, it'd get dug up right quick.  That particular variety would probably be useless to our local jelly makers.   

Hey Del, thanks for that pic.   

[Steel Horse Bailey]

I'd sure have been sad to see that tree go!  That and the tangerine tree were the ONLY trees (or ANY vegetation) on that stretch of hill for quite a ways - maybe 1/2 mile.  Our house was at the end of the road, then there were 2 more empty small fields, lots really, then jungle.  Yep. No foolin'.  That's why the lack of vegetation - it had all been bulldozed and re-claimed from the jungle.  Kind of an interesting situation for an Indiana kid of 8 years!  And NO - me and my friends didn't wander very far into the "brush!"