To those who are dieting, and to those who just like to go healthy every once in a while, eating fruits is a delightful way to spin your menu up. Not only are they naturally sweet and healthy, they tend to fill us up nicely so we don’t have to binge after having a nice plate of natural goodness.
Although fruits are available all year round, it is wise to know what fruits are in season before you go shopping. Why? Not only are fruits in season at the peak of their taste and freshness, they also are at their most available, and as a result, at their cheapest prices. Also, you know that you could achieve your body’s minimum fruit requirement for healthy living by simply patronizing different fruits in season? Picture it. You get healthy food that does your body great good, at their cheapest price and at their tastiest taste? Who wouldn’t want that??
Here are some of the foods that are available in these months of April to May:
White Star Apple (known as Udala or Agbalumo): Our tasty local cherry with its succulent fleshy pulp and sweet seeds is a fruit we all like to suck on. You do not want to eat this fruit when it is not in season. Before it ripens, the juice is still yet tangy, and will produce an unpleasant ‘slapping’ sensation if eaten. It is best to wait for the fruit to drop from its tree, and to be lucky enough to be the first one to snatch it off the ground. You could dance around the tree and sing for one to drop for you, perhaps?
Unfortunately, unlike most fruits, you cannot really tell from its physical state if the fruit is ripe or not. One thing you could do though, is to take a litmus paper to the market and squeeze a little juice on it, to determine its acidity.
Mango: Did you know that mangoes are the number 1 favourite fruit in the world? Yeah, no surprise there. I always get excited when the mango season is coming up. The mango is generally sweet, although the taste and texture of the flesh varies across cultivars, some having a soft, pulpy texture, while the flesh of others is firmer, like an avocado. For consumption of unripe, pickled or cooked fruit, the mango skin may be consumed comfortably, but has potential to cause contact dermatitis of the lips or tongue in susceptible people. Under-ripe mangoes can be ripened by placing them in brown paper bags. They will then keep in a plastic bag in the refrigerator for about four or five days. When ripe, the mangoes would release a sweet smelling, resinous aroma, and you can gorge away!
Garden Egg: This is another fruit in season. The outer skin is either dark green or white. It has a relatively clean taste, just like the cucumber, and it is mostly eaten with a spicy groundnut sauce which the Igbos call Ose Oji. I have never seen an unripe version of this fruit.
Watermelon: The fruit has a smooth exterior rind (green, yellow and sometimes white) and a juicy, sweet interior flesh (usually deep red to pink, but sometimes orange, yellow and even green if not ripe). This large, juicy fruit is largely known for its sweet refreshing qualities. Nothing like going home after facing the hot sun to cold, ripe, sweet juicy watermelon just waiting for you in the fridge. After being dehydrated, it feels good to know that your watermelon contains 6% sugar and 92% water, by weight. Probably the healthiest ‘juice’ you can eat/drink. Also, research on consumption of the fruit has indicated that it may have antihypertensive effects. That’s right, it cools you up, and calms you down. How cool is that??
Well, there you have it! There are no excuses for not indulging in fruits this season. Go out and get shopping, and please don’t forget to buy me a mango while you’re at it.
