Home-Grown Honeyed Sweetness

This is such a happy sight. It has been ages since we harvested a fruit off our pineapple plants.

We have several Sarawak pineapple plants in the garden. But since each plant will usually only bear one fruit (at the very most, two fruits) at a time, and the entire plant needs to be transplanted after the fruit has been harvested, it is not often that we get to savor a home-grown pineapple. But when we do, it is well-worth the wait.

The Sarawak pineapple variety is incredibly juicy and sweet. There is so much juice “oozing” from this baby that it is reflecting the camera flash and creating tons of hotspots!

This particular fruit is just a tad over-ripe, as we had left it sitting on the table for a couple of days before cutting it open. Still, it does not have what we call in Chinese a “yellow taste” – a taste that is common in some over-ripe fruits like star-fruits and pineapples.

It is sweet, sweet, sweet. With beautiful smooth honeyed notes, and no sharp edginess or sappiness. Almost like eating nectar. Luscious. Blissfully lush.

Ah! The wonderful gifts of nature.

And soon, there will be another on the way (hopefully)…

Since we're in the garden, let's go see if there are any other fruits that are ready to be picked.

This is one of the two mango trees we have in the backyard…

(One of the simplest and most basic rules of outdoor photography is to never have the subject’s back to the sun. So what does Renee promptly go and do? Take a picture with the subject’s back to the sun. Boy, I’m good.)

Anyway, the two trees produce very different fruits. One produces fruits with yellow flesh that has a firmer, more refined texture. The sweetness is delicate and pure. The fruits from the second tree, on the other hand, have bright orange flesh, with a robust fragrance. The sweetness is more voluptuous and full, the flavors more emphatic. (Oh, there is a picture of the latter fruits in the post I made last year.)

Looks like there are a few fruits that are almost ready for the picking. Ideally, it is always best to leave the fruits to ripen fully on the tree. Unfortunately we can’t do that. As we grow the trees organically, we have lots of little “secret” residents who just love these pesticide-free fruits. Yes, we regularly have to jostle with several squirrels and even a pair of wild parrots for the fruits. And they always seem to know the perfect time to harvest the fruits. So, usually we have to pick them just slightly ahead of that optimum ripeness to ensure we even get to eat any of the fruits of our labor!

See the small tree to the right of the mango tree (in the previous photo)? That is a rambutan tree. It is rather small, I know. Sandwiched as it is between the 15 feet tall mango tree and a slightly shorter star-fruit tree on either side, it has been somewhat deprived of sunshine. It does still fruit though. Unfortunately, the family is not too keen on the type of fruit that it produces. We like rambutans where the husk of the inner seed does not peel off as the flesh is bitten off. And these fruits do that. But, the squirrels seem to like the fruits well enough. So, despite the occasional thought about felling the tree, we’ve kept it. Maybe the squirrels will concentrate on the rambutans and leave the mangoes to us. (One can always hope, right?)

And here are the two star-fruit trees. The fruits are also incredibly sweet (my dad was quite merticulous in searching out good quality sapplings when he planted all the trees so many years ago). Only problem is, we have hardly gotten to eat any. Oh, maybe all of a handful of times in the last 18 years or so! Seriously. The animals beat us to them each and very time. Even when we painstakingly wrap each fruit with paper, they still get to them. So, we have admitted defeat. We nurture the trees lovingly, but it is the squirrels who reap the rewards!

Sorry, no fruits at the moment. Just tiny pink flowers.

Oh, if you are wondering what a pandan (screwpine) plant looks like (since I keep talking about using pandan leaves as flavoring in cooking), here’s one…

Oops. That is a rather messy looking plant. Try this one…

Recently transplanted plant I think.

There are also lots (and I mean lots) of aloe vera plants dotted all around the garden. (My dad loves aloe vera - loves growing them). We have them growing in pots.

And in the ground. Actually, the ones in the pots could be awaiting transplanting. I’m not sure. Can you tell? I’m really not a gardener.

So that was a little impromptu mini-tour around the garden. I wish we still had the durian tree to show you, but that succumbed to illness after never having once flowered or borne fruit in its 16 years of existence. A botanist friend told us it was because there were no durian trees in the surrounding vicinity and thus cross-pollination was not possible. And so it would seem our poor durian tree was stricken with loneliness and unbearable solitude, and eventually gave up.

Copyright © 2004 Renee Kho. All Rights Reserved.
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