Seasonal Fruit

Even before summer can be officially declared, Shanghai markets have been selling fruit that I associate with the height of summer. We have had lots of nectarines in the various stalls on the street for weeks now. Watermelon has also found its way. I've even seen a variety of cantaloupe that is being sold in piles on the street corners. It is shaped like a small football, and bright yellow on the outside with some of the "veins" that are usually found on the North American varieties of the melon- it is however, the familiar orange on the inside- can't tell you about the taste, since I have not tried it yet.

For me cherries signify summer. Encouraged by my friend LBK, who said that despite the pale red color which we both associate with the lack of ripeness, since we are both used to the dark red colored cherries, I would find them to be sweet and very edible. So I bought some. These definitely had the cherry taste I am familiar with, but were missing a great deal of the sweetness that I like. I do have to admit however, that I have been spoiled with fresh Okanagan sweet cherries straight from the tree for many years.

The other fruit in the bowl, posed with the cherries, is a Chinese berry by the name of yao men. Again, LBK encouraged me to try them. She declared it to be a cross between a blackberry and a raspberry; I found that once you bite it, the inside has the same pale color as the outside, kind of like when you bite into a large strawberry. It is very tasty, and it would probably make a good jam but it little pricey to be making jam with it. There is a single pit on the inside (flatish) and it would really be good with a lot of sugar. The vendors make small pyramidal displays with them.

The champion of the seasonal fruit battle for me right now is the lychee. I have always had these as a canned fruit and have loved them. I thought though that it might have been because of the sugar syrup. What an extreme pleasure to find that the fresh fruit is even better. They are refrigerated and because of their cold temperature impart a refreshing feel to them; they are sweet and have a rose like after taste to them. I found a way to crack the skin on the top pointed end of the fruit, suck the fruit out, and spit the pit back out; I do this while hanging over the sink since it is so juicy.

I cannot stop eating them. I buy them in small batches, and when I am done, rush out to buy another batch. I don't know how long the season is, but I'm not sure I remember them in the stores last year when we arrived, so I have at least another two weeks to eat them fresh. I hope they have lots of fiber, because I am eating a lot of them!