Fairweather Fairy Dust

Tropical heat is a magic ingredient. Temperature, humidity, and sunshine combine to form a fairy dust that touches flowering vegetation in regions of the world lucky enough to hover on central latitudes.  I left a world of standard apple-banana-orange colours to fall head over heels in one full of rich hues, aromatic flavours, and addictive textures. 

Jewels in the culinary crown of Vietnam, the fruits native to the South are… better than chocolate.  Their sweet juices, soft flesh, and heavenly perfumes reference the sun and all the glory that it brings.

The sun bursts from passion fruit, jackfruit, and pommelos.

Can you get much prettier than a mangosteen?

Its thick case is almost sponge-like.  You can push on the bottom to crack it and reveal the edible segments.  Soft and delicate, they burst with intense sweetness.

In a place where you “don’t drink the water,” the plethora of peel-able fruit is extraordinary.  The milk apple requires you only to scoop out the soft middles of the halves or quarters you cut.  Doing so releases it’s milky juice that should also be lapped up.

My new favourite fruit is the custard apple.  It’s slightly fibrous flesh is dense with tropical sugar (and apparently calories).  It is contained within a thick, bumpy skin that could camouflage it as an artichoke from afar.  Its custard flesh is dotted with shiny and black kidney-shaped seeds. 

I’m not sure how to describe it except to say that it’s heavenly.  Perhaps more apt—it’s worth spending 18 hours in a plane to get one.