Length: 3 days
Ok, so I never learned the lyrics to the Beach Boys. It wasn't until after I spent days pouring over maps of Southern Florida in search of the best beaches that I learned that it was Key Largo, and not Hildago, because to me, it was so naturally "Contigo" afterwards... Well, now I know about Montego Bay.... Enunciate, people, enunciate! It took hearing it on while scanning the radio on my rental car for me to figure it out. At least I wasn't Jason Waterfalls.... (I know, I'm horrible. I love it.)
Anyways, there is only one acceptable reaction to seeing flights to Miami for $180 round trip after a fake out of a Snowmaggedon happens, and that is to buy the tickets immediately. The second task is to make a list of all things you want to eat.
Which led me to 35 acres of fruit trees, called the Fruit and Spice Park in Homestead, Florida, about 45 minutes south of Miami (Admission: $8). The promise of over 160 varieties of mangoes, and the ability to eat all the fruit I want that has fallen on the ground, I headed over as soon as I got my rental car.
Sidenote: I've only rented a car once before this, and this was a completely different feeling all together. It is extremely cheap (like, 7 bucks a day, but taxes and fees are like 8 bucks on top of that), and since the transport in Miami isn't all that great, and all the good Latin food is now in Hialeah, a car makes sense.
After inhaling a lobster roll at the Mango Cafe on premises (as many ingredients sourced from the park as possible), I got on the tram for the 3:00 tour. It was a couple from California, myself, and the tour guide, who immediately took us off road, stopping every few feet to pluck things off bushes and trees for us to taste and smell.
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| Nostalgia, an edible flower. Spicy, like a radish, nice fresh crunch. Wouldn't mind that in my salad. |
Brown noser as I am, I was taking notes and asking questions to the point the paranoid guide asked me if I was reporting him or something. I said I was a pastry chef, and kinda obsessed with anything I can eat. He did take this to heart, and followed all following introductions of plant life with whether or not it was edible.
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| Jackfruits can grow upwards of over 70 pounds each. Size 8 female food for reference |
Sadly, my beloved mangoes were not in season. Some avocados had started to flower, but still too soon. My favorite was a stop that was just for me (actually, there ended being a lot of those because of my questions. The 30 minute tour lasted for 1.5 hours because of me, but I didn't mind), when I asked about starfruits.
It's been so long since I've had a star fruit that I barely remember what it tasted like. Star fruits were part of my childhood, from my mother's childhood. Dipping fruit in salt very much a South East Asian thing to do, and people would look at me funny when I suggested it. We used to spend our summers filling our bellies with strawberries dipped in salt, until my later years when I discovered sugar, and when strawberries stopped being so sweet... But the star fruits were always tart, and always needed salt. Until now.
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| The rule in the park is you can eat anything on the ground, as long as it's not poisonous (duh). Be safe and only eat what you recognize. I would have eaten my fill if I wasn't saving room for dinner, and then the big fat maracuya/guanábana smoothie I didn't know I was going to have later.... |
If you are already down in Homestead to visit the Park, where they don't sell any fruit, then you have to drive 15 minutes further to the Robert Is Here Fruit Stand, home of the Key Lime Pie Milk Shake, and all the fruits seen in the park and more. I didn't want any dairy in my drink, so I had just fruit and ice, with just a tad of sugar to sweeten it. Perfection. I ordered passion fruit (maracuya) and guanábana, which is soursop (also known as custard apple or sugar apple).
Fun fruit facts:
- Jamaica Cherry, or Strawberry Tree (Muntingia Calabura): sorry, no photo. As luck would even have it, there was but one berry that was even ripe and ready to go, and as pastry chef, I got to try it. THIS FRUIT TASTES LIKE COTTON CANDY. And not in a gross Lip Smackers kinda of way (RIP Bonnie Bell), it was refreshing, without the sick sugary finish.
- Miracle Fruit, (Synsepalum dulcificum): a small berry native of West Africa that when eaten (well, sucked the thin layer of flesh off the fat seed), it alters your taste buds and makes everything sour taste sweet. We had a cold lemon to try, and it was like the most refreshing glass of fresh made lemonade on a hot summer day.... This may have been why my smoothie tasted so amazing afterwards, but it had been more than an hour after I ate the berry, so perhaps not.
- Sapote family: Mamey Sapote, Sapodilla, Black Sapote, and Canistel: Sweet potato in fruit form? I don't even know how to describe it, because this family is so damn unique.
I had the mamey in milkshake form; it was too sweet potato-y for me, but is a very popular batido (milkshake) flavor at most Latin restaurants in the area.
I bought a few sapodillas at Robert Is Here to bring back to Pittsburgh, based on description alone: pear with brown sugar. Didn't disappoint. I have 2 remaining and deciding what to do with them.
I read about Black Sapote as a chocolate replacement; because it looks like chocolate pudding, and taste kinda like it. I would have liked to try it again chilled and with some whipped cream. Has lots of potential, but fruit like that doesn't travel very well, so shipping is no bueno.
Canistel, also sometimes known as egg fruit, has insides that and has the texture of a hard boiled egg yolk. It's crazy. Like all sapote fruits, they have to ripen to the point of mush in your hands. I did not know this, all I knew was that I saw a piece of fruit on the ground, and the park rules said I could eat it.... Furtively glancing about in case I was going to get yelled at.. I sunk my teeth in, got a mouth full of wax...But the ones I bought home are ripened, and I am enjoying it in tequila smoothie form... Yum.
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| Black Sapote. Needs whipped cream. |
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| Sapodilla. Tastes like pear with brown sugar. Delicious. |
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