Dragon fruit field

This is a small dragon fruit field in the northern Thailand province of Phayao. Dragon fruits are seasonal, but when they’re in season I eat my larger share of them. They remind me of a kiwi fruit in their taste and the texture of their flesh with tiny black seeds throughout. The good thing is they are much bigger so one dragon fruit is probably equivalent to ten kiwis. The taste is quite sweet with a slight accent of sour mixed in (just like a kiwi) and the flesh can either be the usual white, or a deep purple that can easily stain. In Thai, dragon fruit are called gaewmanggon [แก้วมังกร]. They have an odd looking purple skin and are about the size and shape of a nerf ball. You can see some pictures and read more about them in my past articles listed below.

แก้วมังกร

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Santal sherbet

While wandering around in Chiang Rai we encountered a tiny little shop specializing in homemade ice cream and sherbet. I picked santal (gratawn [กระท้อน] in Thai) over the other interesting flavors which included durian and longan.

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mangoes

Ahh…the mango tree in front of my house. I still haven’t figured out how it works. The fruits are psuedo-seasonal (I guess) but they come at seemingly unrelated parts of the year and in varying sized batches. The trick is being able to time it well enough to let them grow nice and large, but still pick the ones on the outside of the fence before the neighbors do. Well, actually I don’t do any of this. I just watch as all the action unfolds. I will spring into action when our papaya starts fruiting. Papaya trees grow unbelievably fast and can have large fruits in less than a year. I think I’ll prefer those over the sour mangoes, but I do know many who would disagree with me.

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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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Bag full of ants

While sounding weird, this dish is amazingly simple: ants mixed with coconut. In Thai called miang mod daeng sai maphrao [เมี่ยงมดแดงใส่มะพร้าว] which literally means ‘mixed ants with coconut’. From what I hear, they collect the ants by knocking their nest out of a tree into a basket. Then they have to quickly (these ones bite) take the basket with a wet cloth and somehow get the ants into a bucket full of water. Yeah, I’m missing some details here, but in the end the ants die by drowning. Finally, they are stir-fried with the coconut and you have yourself a nice tasty snack! I don’t find them to have much flavor, but they’re not bad. Definitely one of the better insects I’ve tried.

Hanging off the spoon

Big spoonful

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The fruit

This one was a hard one to find any information on. I knew it was a palm fruit, but apparently there isn’t much information on the internet about these. In Thai its called luk dtan [ลูกตาล] and I finally tracked down a possible English name: sugar palm, toddy palm, or borassus flabellifer. I would consider it a rare fruit since I haven’t seen it often around here although it is very cheap.

Anyway, the fruit itself is quite jelly-like after you get the soft shell off. You have to cut the shell off with a knife; it doesn’t peel. As for taste, its not bad but pretty bland. Slightly sweet, but nothing else. I guess it’s cheap and not readily available for a reason. Another interesting fruit to try.

Sugar palm fruits

Sugar palm fruit

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Looks delicious

This is an exquisite Thai dessert. Jackfruit stuffed with sweet sticky rice and covered in sweetened coconut cream (khao niaw kanun [ข้าวเหนียวขนุน]). The different jackfruit pieces also have different flavors of sticky rice in them (notice the colors?) but I’m not sure what they are. There’s not much else to say about this one except that the flavors work excellent and I wish I had more. Yum!

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Jackfruit

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Fresh durians

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Rose apple tree

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