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Bananas - Musa sapientum
The banana originally came from India, where Hindus believe its leaves
were used by the first man and woman to cover their nakedness. It made its
way as far as the Persian borders by about 1 000 BC, but was not heard of
again, except as a curiosity presented in the Roman court, before about AD
650-700, when the Arabs brought it to Palestine and North Africa. Both the
fruit and plants were packed on Portuguese slave ships going from Africa to
the West Indies and Brazil.
The fruits provided food for the voyage, while the plants supplied a
source of fodder for the unfortunate cargo once planted at their tropical destination,
where they thrived. They spread across the Gulf of Mexico to
Central America, a region which later became major suppliers to the USA,
giving rise to the pejorative nickname “Banana Republic”.
In European cuisine the banana is almost always eaten raw unless served
in a dessert; nutritionally, this is the best way to enjoy it. Its high potassium
content makes it particularly valuable to sufferers of heart disease. |
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Dates - Phoenix dactylifera
Though fresh dates have been known in the eastern and southern
Mediterranean since ancient times, until recently Westerners mainly consumed
the dried fruit. Today, several varieties of fresh dates from Israel are
available on the European market, while southern California supplies almost
100 percent of American dates, both fresh and dried, from a small desert
town called Indio.
Like “banana”, “date” means finger or toe, though this time the word is
of Greek derivation. The oval or oblong fruits are brown and fleshy, with a
skin which slides off when fresh.
Originating in the Persian Gulf, the date was spread by Arab traders
through North Africa and south into Saudi Arabia where it is cultivated primarily
for local consumption. Despite the commercial dominance of Israeli
produce, Iraq still claims pre-eminence for the quality of its harvest. |
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Guava - Psidium guajava
Originating in Central America and Haiti, the guava is from the same family
as the eucalyptus and allspice, though its tree is much smaller. First
described to a European readership in a mid-sixteenth century chronicle of
New World flora, it spread into South America and was transplanted to
India and Southeast Asia, Cuba and Hawaii.
There are several varieties; the fruit can be either round or pear-shaped,
the skin greenish-yellow or creamy, and the flesh salmon or ivory coloured.
The intire fruit is edible, including the seeds; it is sweet with an acid tang.
The imported fruit is difficult to obtain at the correct ripeness. It is best
eaten raw or pulped, and sieved to make preserves and drinks. |
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Kiwi fruit - Actinidia chinensis
The kiwi’s alternative name, Chinese Gooseberry, recalls its place of origin,
though little is known about its Chinese background. Its recorded history
began when a few plants were imported to New Zealand and were grown in
Wanganuwi. Success only came in 1937 with larger plantings around the
Bay of Plenty, and the area remains the biggest exporter. It is a key ingredient
in the Antipodean meringue creation, the Pavlova.
First exported to London in 1953, the explosion of nouvelle cuisine in
the 1970s launched its international stardom as the movement’s signature
garnish.
The ovoid Kiwi fruit has a light brown, hairy carapace over a bright
green, slightly glatinous interior with a central circle of edible black seeds.
Since it has ten times the vitamin C content of an orange, products are being
developed to further exploit its health potential. |
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Litchi - Litchi chinensis
These sweet, slightly cloying fruits have become a much anticipated winter
luxury in Europe and America. They are native to the subtropical regions of
China and Southeast Asia where they may have been grown 2 000 years
ago, and were introduced as an export crop into South Africa and the West
Indies in modern times. The advent of canning in the twentieth century
made the fruit available for general consumption.
Lychees are round, walnut-sized fruits with warty, bright pink, tough
skins, which peel away exposing translucent, juicy, white flesh enclosing a
single, large brown seed. Other luscious options from the same family are
the longan (Euphoria longena) and the rambutan (Nephelium mutabile). |
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Mango - Mangifera indica
Britons were familiar with the existence of mangoes long before most other
Europeans ever saw or tasted one. Seventeenth-century English recipes
instructed housewives how to “mango” vegetables and fruits, a term taken
from Indian mango pickles. The British colonists of the Raj actually experienced
fresh mangoes and real mango pickles and chutneys, and brought
samples back with them. But Europeans were only able to enjoy the succulence
of a fresh mango with the era of refrigeration.
Mango trees have been cultivated in India and Malaysia for some
4 000
years; the name itself has Tamil-Malay roots. There are three main varieties
of the fruit, two of which, the summer and the Alfonso, are sweet and are
the most frequently encountered in the West. Both should be eaten fresh, so
their orange succulence can be appreciated. The Indians use the small green
mango for chutneys and pickles, in fruity curries, or as a marinating agent.
Today, mangoes are also grown commercially in Australia, Israel, Kenya
and tropical USA. |
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Melon - Cucumis melo
The melon is a quintessentially Middle Eastern fruit. The sand, blazing sun
and dry summer heat of the region, from Israel east to the steppes of
Uzbekistan and Kazakstan, bring out its inherent sweetness. More than 1
000 varieties of melon are grown in Uzbekistan alone.
Muskmelons with their heady perfume, were probably among the earliest
type of melon to be cultivated. Chief among them, with flesh varying from
pink to salmon to deep orange, are the Persian melon and the American cantaloupe.
Another group of melons includes the smooth-skinned or lightlynetted
melons with pale white-to-green flesh: the large casaba, the creased,
yellow-skinned honeydew, and the ogen and galia, two melons developed in
Israel. The true cantaloupe also has pink or orange flesh, but the greenish
skin is smooth or warty and sometimes striped. Examples include the
Charentais and the Cavaillon, both French varieties also grown elsewhere.
Melons were probably brought to Italy in the fourteenth century by the
Venetian-Arab trading connection. In the late fifteenth century, Charles VIII
of France planted a specimen from Cantaloupo, Italy. By the sixteenth century,
greenhouse melons were the pride of English gardeners. Today, melons
are an important export fruit in Spain, France, Israel and California. |
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Papaya - Carrica papaya
The large, pear-shaped papaya has a smooth yellow skin, orange flesh and
black seeds, and grows in clusters around the slim trunk of an 8-foot (2.4 m)
tree. Described as a “tree melon”, it was noted by Columbus and later
explorers to be one of the staples of the Carib Indian diet. The Spanish
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planted specimens in the Philippines from where it spread to Nepal and
Southeast Asia, reaching India by 1600. Today there are also commercial
plantings in parts of South America, Africa and the USA, particularly in
Hawaii.
The papaya is appreciated most when served fresh. Its ripe, fragrant flesh
is the quintessential breakfast of the tropical traveler and makes an exotic
addition to fruit salad. Native people, however, also use unripe papaya in
stews, fried as a vegetable, or pickled as a condiment. It is high in vitamins
B and C, and one of its enzymes, papain, is said to slow the ageing process. |
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Passion fruit or Purple granadilla - Passiflora edulis
The reputation of this small, round, brown-purple, wizened exotic rests on
its evocative name and its heavenly fragrance. A perennial climber, the passion
fruit was discovered by a Jesuit missionary who first noticed its flowers
in the jungles of Brazil. The stamens and pistils called to mind the instruments
of Christ’s passion.
An alternative name, granadilla, literally means “little pomegranate”.
This is explained by the interior which is full of small black seeds. The best
way to enjoy the fruit is to cut off the top and use a spoon to scoop out the
flesh, crunchy seeds and all. The flesh can also be pulped and strained, and
the juice used for ice creams, sorbets, drinks, frappés and cooked desserts.
Today the fruit is grown commercially in Central and South America, as
well as in the West Indies, Australia, Southeast Asia, tropical Africa, Hawaii
and Florida. There is also a less well-known yellow variety (P. edulis flavicorpa). |
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Persimmons
Persimmons, known as the “Food of the Gods”, were introduced to Europe
in the 17th century. Sharon is a specific type of persimmon, grown only in
Israel, Spain and now South Africa. It is distinct to other permissons by its
sweet taste, flavour, firmness and much longer shelf life. It has no seeds and
can be eaten firm like an applw, with or without the peel. It is always ready to
eat. Packed with vital vitamins, an average size Sharon is only 70 calories,
making it perfect for today’s health conscious consumer. |
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Pineapple - Ananas comosus
The pineapple came originally from South America, but was already being
cultivated by the natives when Columbus arrived on the island of Guadalupe
in the Caribbean in 1493. Its Brazilian name was nana. The Spanish named
it pina de Indes, because of its resemblance to a pine cone. By 1555 the
Spanish were sending the fruit to Europe, and by 1583 it was being grown
in India and parts of Southeast Asia. Successful attempts to cultivate the
plant in glasshouses heralded a European pineapple craze, particularly in
Britain, and an eager market for the pineapple growers of the West Indies.
The British introduced the pineapple to the Hawaiian Islands in 1790.
When James Dole opened his pineapple canning factory there in the 1920s,
it became the biggest business in the islands for the next forty years. Today
Hawaii’s share has shrunk, and pineapples are also grown in the West
Indies, the Canaries and Azores, Central America, Mexico, Puerto Rico and
the west coast of Africa.
The pineapple plant produces a single “armored” fruit, crowning a central
stem. When ripe it should smell wonderful, be brown and slightly tender
and a leaf should pull easily from its top. At the peak of growth a huge
surge of fruit sugars suffuses the fruit, enriching the flavour. |
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Prickly pear - Opuntia megacantha
A New World fruit, the prickly pear has only recently reached a wider market,
mainly because of Hispanic immigration and settlement in the western
USA. It is known by other names, including cactus pear and Barbary or
Indian fig.
The large green spiny pads of the mother plants are a familiar sight in
Hollywood movies. Baby pads (nopales) are sold spined, to be cut into
small pieces and eaten raw in salads or cooked in soups and other Mexican
dishes. The oval fruits (nopalites), usually yellow or red, are also spiny and
ripen along the edges of the pads from fall to December. They can be
bought spined, cooked and bottled, but are also available fresh, still attached
to a small part of the pad to help conserve flavour. The delicate flesh can be
eaten raw in salads, braised, made into preserves or pickled. |
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Tomatillo - Physalis ixocarpa
The tomatillo, or Mexican tomato, is a near relative of the Cape gooseberry.
It is much larger than the latter, with the fruit filling the papery calyx or
husk, which must be removed before cooking. The tomatillo is harvested
and used when unripe and green. It can be used raw, and is an essential
ingredient in a true guacamole, but heat brings out the flavour, best appreciated
in hot salsa verde and in conserves. |
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Watermelon - Citrullus vulgaris
Originally from Africa, the watermelon was brought by African slaves to the
USA. It has always had associations with the culture of the Southern states,
the sure sign that summer has come. It is a commercial crop in Texas,
Indiana and California. It is also grown in India, Africa and Southeast Asia. |
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Baking Ingredients 
