Mystery Fruit
March 5, 2012 8:38 AM Subscribe
What fruit is this? Bought it at a produce market in Taipei a few days ago and I was told to wait five days before eating it.
Misshapen guava? Are you sure it's a fruit, could be some sort of squash?
posted by dahliachewswell at 9:02 AM on March 5, 2012
posted by dahliachewswell at 9:02 AM on March 5, 2012
Looks like a small papaya to me too.
posted by Ms. Moonlight at 9:17 AM on March 5, 2012
posted by Ms. Moonlight at 9:17 AM on March 5, 2012
Cut it open.
If it's orangish-yellow throughout, with dark seeds, papaya.
Guava have reddish flesh, and smaller seeds.
posted by IAmBroom at 9:28 AM on March 5, 2012
If it's orangish-yellow throughout, with dark seeds, papaya.
Guava have reddish flesh, and smaller seeds.
posted by IAmBroom at 9:28 AM on March 5, 2012
My guess is the "5 days" comment was a warning about ripeness. If someone bought a green banana from me, and had never seen one before, I might say the same.
posted by IAmBroom at 9:29 AM on March 5, 2012
posted by IAmBroom at 9:29 AM on March 5, 2012
If that's 5 days away from being ripe, it's probably not a papaya. A papaya that had reached that nice pretty yellow color would be ready to eat.
posted by aimedwander at 9:37 AM on March 5, 2012
posted by aimedwander at 9:37 AM on March 5, 2012
It looks like a Prickly Pear fruit to me, but I could very well be wrong.
posted by Solomon at 9:44 AM on March 5, 2012
posted by Solomon at 9:44 AM on March 5, 2012
The texture, color and shape make me think papaya as well.
posted by El Sabor Asiatico at 11:36 AM on March 5, 2012
posted by El Sabor Asiatico at 11:36 AM on March 5, 2012
Yeah, I'd go w/ papaya, too. And if 5 days from ripe at the market was a few days back, that looks about right. (If it were cactus fruit of any sort it would have bumps or flaps where the spines grow.) Eat it!
Or, you could give it a sniff. Other folks will probably describe it better, but to me guava smells sorta lemony-strawberry like. Ripe papaya smells... well, I don't like it ripe b/c it smells to me like a combination of vomit & pineapple juice [sorry, I know that's off-putting, but hopefully descriptive], but even before that stage its fragrance is nectary-sweet.
posted by Westringia F. at 11:59 AM on March 5, 2012
Or, you could give it a sniff. Other folks will probably describe it better, but to me guava smells sorta lemony-strawberry like. Ripe papaya smells... well, I don't like it ripe b/c it smells to me like a combination of vomit & pineapple juice [sorry, I know that's off-putting, but hopefully descriptive], but even before that stage its fragrance is nectary-sweet.
posted by Westringia F. at 11:59 AM on March 5, 2012
Best answer: 仙桃 xiantao in Chinese (literally "fairy peaches")
They are sometimes called eggfruit in English (yellow inside & outside)
Taiwan article:
Chinese: http://forum.u-car.com.tw/thread.asp?forumid=76942&page=1
Google machine translation of above: http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=zh-CN&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fforum.u-car.com.tw%2Fthread.asp%3Fforumid%3D76942%26page%3D1
Google machine translation ofChina article:
http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=zh-CN&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fbaike.baidu.com%2Fview%2F467095.htm
posted by juifenasie at 5:25 PM on March 5, 2012
They are sometimes called eggfruit in English (yellow inside & outside)
Taiwan article:
Chinese: http://forum.u-car.com.tw/thread.asp?forumid=76942&page=1
Google machine translation of above: http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=zh-CN&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fforum.u-car.com.tw%2Fthread.asp%3Fforumid%3D76942%26page%3D1
Google machine translation ofChina article:
http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=zh-CN&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fbaike.baidu.com%2Fview%2F467095.htm
posted by juifenasie at 5:25 PM on March 5, 2012
In Taiwan, guavas are green and papayas (even small ones) are much bigger and not so pointy
I have an eggfruit in my room waiting to be eaten (exactly like the one in the Dropbox photo)
posted by juifenasie at 5:28 PM on March 5, 2012
I have an eggfruit in my room waiting to be eaten (exactly like the one in the Dropbox photo)
posted by juifenasie at 5:28 PM on March 5, 2012
Response by poster: It smelled fragrant and was soft, so I decided to take a chance and open it up. Here is the photo of the inside.
It's definitely NOT a papaya or guava. It's texture and taste is... kind of like a cooked sweet potato?
Looking at photos online, it looks like it is indeed a canistel or eggfruit.
posted by zxcv at 6:51 PM on March 5, 2012
It's definitely NOT a papaya or guava. It's texture and taste is... kind of like a cooked sweet potato?
Looking at photos online, it looks like it is indeed a canistel or eggfruit.
posted by zxcv at 6:51 PM on March 5, 2012
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by Mercaptan at 8:59 AM on March 5, 2012 [2 favorites]