The fruits of fall

So I'm just going to pretend I've written all the blogs I've had in my mind the past 3 months, because unfortunately things don't stick around inside my brain for very long.  Let's dive back in with the lovely special fruits of China in the fall.  First the pommelo.  As a huge fan of grapefruit, I thought it held great promise; it was bigger, much much bigger, and so therefore I thought it would be even better.  I was a foolish beginner and bought the whole pommelo; I found out later that there's a reason why they sell them already peeled in the market.  It took about 15 minutes, and it reduced the size of the fruit by at least half.  Check out how thick the peel is.   Then there is all the pulp to contend with.  It is tough and not easy to penetrate.  I stuck with it, and was rewarded with the pretty pink interior.  However, one bite told me it did not hold the delicious sourness of the grapefruit.  It was a pretender to the throne, with not much juice or flavor.  My friend assures me when I go to Vietnam for Lunar New Year I will have a much different pommelo experience, but I'm not buying any that aren't peeled.  Too much work for not enough reward.

However, the persimmon is another story.  First the burnt orange is a perfect fall color, and the skin is very very thin, think tomato-thin, or thinner, actually.  Then when they are ripe, they are heavy and feel like they could burst easily.  Actually, I forgot I bought 4 at the wet market the first time, and failed to put them in the fragile bag.  When I unpacked the produce when I got home, the 4 previous-persimmon were pulp and juice, nothing round about them.  When not smashed prematurely, their taste is wondrous, but difficult to describe.  There is a very soft, juicy fibrous interior, with 4 or 5 more gelatinous seed pods or something inside the pulp.  Those are even more delicious.  I'm not sure what I'm

supposed to eat and what I'm supposed to toss, so I've developed a system of poking a small hole in the very thin skin, then sucking out all the pulp, and avoiding eating the skin.  I'm pretty sure it wouldn't hurt me, but I'm a beginner, and caution is called for.  I do understand now why so many Asian artists have painted persimmon through the centuries, the combination of their taste and their looks makes them a perfect fall fruit.  I would recommend you try one, but unless you are close to the source, I wouldn't.  

Finally, there is a hamburger-bun looking variety, which I'm not at all sure is a persimmon, but is trying to fool the less-informed.  It's not nearly as juicy, and I may or may not have bought one thinking it was like the smaller round version.  I wasn't impressed, but they are cool looking. That's it for the fall fruit adventures so far.  Except that the mandarin oranges have been in season for about 2 months now and there are

several varieties, and every time I think I have a favorite, another one appears in the market.  The smallest ones of all are now in season, and when our favorite vendor gave us her "bonus" today, it was 2 of those.  They are sweeter than any candy I've tasted, and I have known some candy in my time.  They make those canned versions seem like they are from another fruit.  It's been a highlight of the fall to enjoy some of China's finest fruit.