Monday, January 05, 2009

Going troppo

The christmas season seems to be the best time of year for tropical fruit in North Queensland. Of course, it’s mango season, but you also find other random fruits in the markets or for sale on the side of the road.

We found watermelons at 49 cents each from the fruit and vege shop, so we got the smallest one we could find. When we got up to the check-out we found it weighed in at 10 kilos. We drank a lot of watermelon juice.

Our favourite people at the market, a really nice old couple with a farm in Paluma, were selling mamey sapotes so we got one of those, too. They’re ripe when they’re really soft.

We cut ours in half.

Part of it became a smoothie. Last time we had a mamey sapote the smoothie tasted like strawberries. This time it kind of tasted like sweet potato, which wasn't that nice.

And the other part was mixed with mango and Sabayon Sauce (an Urban Vegan tester recipe).

As mango lovers, though, our energy is largely spent trying to find the best deal on mangoes.

We got these early-season chok annan mangoes—three for $1. They’re organic, grown by an old hippy in nearby Giru. They’re very sweet, but were possibly picked a bit early since they went a bit wrinkly before going ripe.

On Christmas Day we got some mangoes from the side of the road in Alligator Creek. After putting our $5 in the honesty box, we grabbed a bag of eight giant R2E2 mangoes. These have been scientifically bred by the CSIRO to be big and not stringy, but somewhere in the science they lost a crucial facet—flavour. This batch wasn’t too bad, and is especially good for juicing.

The Sunday after chrissy we found a guy at the market selling a trailer full of Bowen mangoes, grown in Giru. We nearly bought a tray of them, but then we saw his sign—1/2 bushel for $12. We couldn’t say no.

After getting them out of the box, we counted 28 mangoes of various sizes (including the biggest bowen mangoes either of us has ever seen).

We’ve been eating several mangoes a day, drinking them, and including them in dessert. I don't think I'll ever have too many mangoes.

16 comments:

LizNoVeggieGirl said...

Love all the fruit!!

steph said...

That is a lot of mangoes!

D picked up a box of mangoes last week, I am slightly concerned that they were picked too early (they are still too green to eat) but I have hopes for a whole lot of mangoes in my future.

Stonefruit is going pretty delicious at the moment, though!

Amey said...

year after year your mango posts leave me teary eyed with envy. honestly now... you have clearly made good life choices to end up somewhere where you can buy 3 varieties of mango in one week, LET ALONE a whole bushel for $12. at least it's good to know that there's a friendly vegan out there taking full advantage and appreciation of the situation!

Anonymous said...

Love the mangoes, one of my favorite fruits, and also mamey, there is a place called Tepoznieves where they make sherbets of almost every fruit and one of my favorites is the combination of mamey and roses:)

Anonymous said...

I wish mangoes were as easy to come by here as they are for you. They don't grow here normally so we can only get them at the grocery store. :( I'm jealous because they are definitely one of my favorite fruits.

Amy said...

Haha, I LOVE that photo of Andy with his super excited face!

And I don't think I'll ever be tired of your droolworthy mango posts. YUM! I adore mango.

A.M. said...

Aw, I would love to live in a country where fresh, 'exotic' fruit is so available and cheap. And where you do not have to NOT buy it because it's flown in from the other side of the world...

Groover said...

Oh, so so jealous. :-) Never heard of mamey sapotes but love black sapote. Look at all the mangoes. Dreamland! :-)

DJ said...

LOVE mangoes AND watermelon, so I imagine you're having a grand old time with all this fruit!

Bianca said...

I love honesty boxes! Some country folks in small towns around here have that system too and it amazes how they trust people. In the city, you'd get so ripped off with that system. But in the country, people still have morals.

Amira said...

mangoes, mangoes, mangoes! love them! I've never heard of mamey sapotes before, very interesting and thankyou for you information on my blog, it's good to know there are jobs out there i haven't considered. Have a great day!

ChocolateCoveredVegan said...

Woah that's a lot of mangoes! Those things, along with bananas, are like nature's candy.

Anonymous said...

you guys are so lucky. i've only had a couple of pieces of mango this season as they're so expensive down here, but i'm a mango lover too!

Unknown said...

oh my gosh im so jealous haha i LOVVE mangos..soooo much.
and you have so many! haha lucky youu ;)

Hase said...

Me too, I love mangoes... they are the best. Unfortunately they don't grow in my garden!!
Your blog is awesome!
Say hello to Australia from me, I have been there once too...

the little one said...

You might turn into a mango! ;)