Fruits of the month

So last month I missed a fruit posting, but not because there isn't any fruit! If you like fruit, Israel is an amazing place to be in the summer.

Here's a small plate of fruit:

Some fruit in August in Jerusalem

Mangoes! Grapes! Lychees! Figs! Prickly Pears (aka cactus pears) (not pictured)!

Multiple varieties of many fruits are available at the Mahane Yehuda (the shuk). And some are available on your neighbourhood tree (especially figs).

Here's what Mahane Yehuda looks like on a Friday afternoon in the summer -- all the locals plus busloads of tourists:

Marketgoers!

I had some Maya Mangoes last week that were sensational. This week's, not Maya, mangoes paled in comparison. Seriously, I might be becoming a mango snob. 

Off of this week's fruit plate I think the lychee might be the most interesting fruit (it's definitely the most expensive!). If you've only ever eaten canned lychees, you won't recognize a fresh lychee. It's a reddish spiky acorn sized fruit.

Lychee half peeled

If you peel a fresh lychee you'll see the flesh looks like flower petals grown over the pit.This is an aril, an outgrowth of the attachment point of the seed -- like the flesh of a pomegranate or mangosteen -- and is, in plant propagation strategies, intended to encourage some critter to eat it so as to ensure seed dispersal.

Peeled lychee - ready to eat

Eating a lychee is a delicate sweet, perfume-y experience.  There's only one species of lychees in the genus (Litchi chinensis in the soapberry family) -- the available varieties are cultivars.

And, now I'm out of lychees...