Strange Fruit

Southern trees bear strange fruit,
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root,
Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze,
Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees.

Pastoral scene of the gallant south,
The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth,
Scent of magnolias, sweet and fresh,
Then the sudden smell of burning flesh.

Here is fruit for the crows to pluck,
For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck,
For the sun to rot, for the trees to drop,
Here is a strange and bitter crop.

The first fruit is cherimoya, I saw it in Vietnam but never tried it. Well, they  have it in Spain too and its tasty! Wikipedia tells me that MArk Twain called it “the most deliscious fruit known to men”. It reminds me of a mixture between a pear and a durian, because you have to eat the slimy fruit of off a bunch of little seeds, but the texture and taste is kind of similar to a pear.

The second one is a picture of yellow dates. I always wondered if dates where possible to eat fresh ( I have only seen the dried version). So, I found these fresh dates here. I tried one of them really ripe (it had turned brown) and it was really sweet. You can eat them when they are yellow but they are crunchy and not as delicious. I bought a branch of yellow ones and am waiting for them to get ripe; it has been about a week and still no progress..

The last two images are of  higo chumbo or prickly pear. Higo means fig in spanish. I have never tried one before, but after researching I realized it is called “Tuna” and I tried this flavor of ice cream in Cafayate, Argentina. Baloo says in Jungle Book: “Don’t pick the prickly pear by the paw”. My friend who introduced it to me thinks it is the “Mejor fruta del planeta”. It was delicious but I still think regular figs are even better!