One of the joys of Paraguay is the abundance of fruit. There are plenty of fruits available for sale in street markets and supermarkets, as well as from vendors at stoplights. There are fruit trees in the plazas and most Paraguayan homes have at least one if not several fruit trees and plants in the yard. Mangoes, oranges, lemons, tangerines, passion fruit, the list goes on and on.
Una de las dichas del Paraguay es la abundancia de fruta. Hay cantidades a la venta en los mercados y supermercados, y también en la calle donde vendedores ambulantes aprovechan de los semáforos para hacer su negocio. Hay árboles frutales en las plazas y la mayoría de los hogares paraguayos tienen por lo menos un árbol o planta frutera en su patio. Mangos, naranjas, limones, mandarinas, mburucuyá, y la lista continua.
To foreigners some fruits may be more exotic than others. One particularly bizzare looking, but tasty, fruit is the chirimoya. That´s “chi” (cheese) “ri” (retail) “mo” (motel) “ya” (jumbalaya). Chirimoya is also known as “aratiku´i” in Guarani. Chirimoyas are light green with a large bumpy exterior. For lack of a better term I´d describe the bumps as large green warts (I´m open to suggestions). The “warts” start off tightly packed. As chirimoyas ripen the warts grow and the skin between them turns a pale yellow. The yellow areas will start to get wider and softer. At this point they should be picked and allowed to ripen indoors for a couple of days. You could just let them continue to ripen on the tree but there is a risk. Any ripening chirimoyas left on tree will be picked at by birds or covered with ants who can now access the sweet interior through warts’ the soft yellow surroundings.
A chirimoya is dead ripe when it begins to split along the yellow parts between the warts and can be pulled apart easily by hand. The interior is full of pointy shaped, creamy white sections that separate easily from the outer skin. Encased in almost all sections is a half inch long dark oval seed. If you are a meticulous sort of person it can be fun to eat a chirimoya section by section. If not then just shove a whole chunk in your mouth and spit out the seeds! To me chirimoyas taste like a creamier version of a pear with a little bit of green apple flavor. How would you describe them?
Una chirimoya está totalmente madura cuando empieza a partirse a lo largo de la piel amarilla y se puede abrir fácilmente con las manos. El interior se encuentra lleno de secciones puntiagudas pero suaves de color crema. Estos se separan fácilmente de la capa exterior. Dentro de casi todas estas secciones hay una semilla negra de un poco más de un centímetro de largo. Si sos una persona meticulosa es divertido comer la chirimoya sección por sección. ¡Si no entonces métete una cantidad en la boca y escupe las semillas! Para mi las chirimoya saben como una versión más cremosa de una pera, con un toque de manzana verde. ¿Como los describirías vos?
