Fruit of the month -- Shesek

The official start of summer in Israel is marked by the opening of a steady parade of fresh fruit, many of which I've never met. A good friend of mine here, Amit, is an intrepid fruit hunter-gatherer both at the market and in the neighbourhood and a walking encyclopedia of fruit so I'm getting acquainted with new fruits regularly.

This post is dedicated to the fruit known in Israel as the Shesek. You might know it as the Loquat. Or you  might not know it at all, like I didn't know it until about two weeks ago.

A sheshek tree:

A sheshek tree on Hovevei Zion

A shesek on my dessert plate

Shesek trees grow all around Jerusalem, this specimen was taken from a neighbourhood tree on a walk home from the movies. A shesek is about the size of an apricot (by volume) and shaped like a pear; this one had a bit of furry outside (like a peach). It has giant seeds that are about the size of a really round almond. This shesek had only two seeds, but seed number is variable from 1 to 6 (or so).

A shesek cut in half

A shesek seed, 1 of a pair

Biting into a shesek, the chewy skin gives way to a juicy, tender fruit that starts tangy-sour and finishes sweet.  Really yummy and highly recommended! Just don't bite into the seeds since they are rock hard.

A little Linnaeus (cause I'm still a botany geek) before I close. It should come as no surprise that the shesek is in Rosaceae (the rose family -- the home of many delectable fruits including apples, berries, peaches, almonds!). The shesek (or loquat, nispero, the Japanese plum, the Chinese plum, or pipa) is, in Latin, called Eriobotrya japonica. The pipa is native to (southeastern) China, but now cultivated widely in subtropical to mild temperate climates - Hello Israel! 

[Post prepared with help from Wikipedia! What was life like before Wikipedia?]