Santol
Slice and bashed santol fruit
Here’s a strange fruit, called gratawn [กระท้อน], but known as santol in English. A bit large, about the size of a grapefruit with the same thickness of skin, but definitely not a citrus fruit. The taste is very strange; a combination of sour, bitter, and sweet. The texture is also odd, like a thick slime.
Perhaps the weirdest part, though, is that you need to beat the fruit before you eat it. Whether it’s hit with a bottle or smacked on the floor, there is no question that it must be beat up first. I have not been able to discern exactly why, but I think it has to do with some combination of mixing up the juices inside and softening up the flesh.
Anyway, once it has been bashed around a bit it’s ready for opening. After cutting into slices you can eat it, usually pausing to dip it into a sugar and chili pepper mixture. A very strange flavor, but somehow I like it still.
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