It's Ripe - Weird!

This educational post is dedicated to my curious grandchildren!

Bananas grow on short trees with very enormous light green leaves.  It takes a baby tree about a year to grow and then a "Dragon Tail" (grandpa named it that :) appears.  Then a stalk of baby bananans begins to form just above the tail.  After 4 months, the tail falls off and the stalk is cut off.  The bananas are still green, but they turn yellow in a few days gradually from the bottom of the stalk to the top.  The bananas are about half the length of the ones you usually buy in the store, but you can find the baby bananas there.  They taste about the same as the big ones.  The tree will only produce one stalk of bananas.  It will grow little baby trees around the base of the tree.  The tree is cut down so the baby trees can get big and produce a stalk of bananas.  Alice's favorite treat is banana bread.  We like to put them in the freezer and make fruit smoothies out of them.   

Pinapples don't grow on trees.  They grow on a large, stickery plant on the ground.  Only one pineapple grows on each plant.  They take almost a year to grow and get ripe.  Little "suckers" grow around the base of the pineapple.  If you cut off each sucker and plant it in mud, about 3' apart, it will grow another pineapple.  There are several kinds of pineapple that grow here but all of them are really sweet and don't have very much acid so you don't get cankers when you eat a lot of it.  We eat at least 2 a week!

Cashews grow on beautiful trees with small, dark green, flat leaves.  The leaves fall off randomly and new ones grow so the tree is never really bare like it is in the winter there.  (Grandpa sits under Alice's cashew tree and cuts leaves into shapes with the scissors on his Leatherman for the children in the village.  They like him to make people, cats, dogs, cars, and bicycles.)  First the tree blooms white and pink blossoms then a small green fruit appears with the cashew on the bottom of it.  When the fruit turns orange it is harvested.  You eat the fruit, and save the cashew until it is dry.  Then you crack open the shell and eat the nut.  The fruit smells and tasts pretty good, but grandpa says that it makes your mouth numb.  It would take a whole tree (and a lot of work) to produce a large jar of nuts.   

All citrus fruits grow on trees and is ripe when it is green.  We have had grapefruit, tangerines, oranges, limes and lemons.  They are all GREEN on the outside and the usual colors on the inside.  They aren't as sweet and they have a lot of seeds.  The lemons have a wart like, bumpy skin.  Locals don't eat lemons.  They use them to clean with and will drink the juice if they have a cough.  We like to squeeze the juice from oranges, tangerines and lemons; and freeze it in bags and then eat them like popsicles.   

This guy was walking past in front of an orange stand, so I motioned for him to come over and I gave him 50 peswas to buy some oranges if he would let me take his picture when he and his friend ate them.  The locals have an unusual way of selling and eating oranges.  First the seller shaves the green outside off with a machete or peeler.  They leave the thick, white skin on and prominently display them on a metal tree until they are sold.  Then they cut the top of the orange off and put it in a poly (black plastic bags) and hand it to the buyer.  Locals suck the juice out as they squeeze it with their hand.  When the juice is gone or it is inside out, they throw the empty white shell on the ground. 

The lady at the orange stand didn't want her picture taken, but she was happy with the sale.  The guy wanted his picture taken and was happy with our deal.  I was happy that I got the pictures for only 50 peswas.  Grandpa thinks I'm cRaZy!