The end of the rainy season is a weirdly dull time for fruit. Mangoes still aren’t ripe, mangosteens are mostly gone, longans and langsats aren’t as common. There are a lot of citrus fruits available, and rambutans seem to be returning. Also apples.

Here’s what we have today:

The things in the bag on the left (which look suspiciously like olives) are Preserved Elaeocarpus. I bought that at 7/11 when the fruit situation was looking particularly dire. As you might expect from fruit in a bag bought at 7/11, it’s terrible. Elaeocarpus is like a big olive; “preserved” in this case means that they’re in a sugary vinegar. I have no idea what they are supposed to taste like, though you do see them around; they generally seem to be preserved.

The fruit in the upper right of that picture was labeled “sapodilla” in English and “ละมุดธรรมดา” in Thai (which Google Translate has as “common sapodilla,” who knows); the one below it was labeled a “Malay sapodilla plum” in English and “ละมุดมาเลย์” in Thai (Google: “Malay sapodilla”). Wikipedia only recognizes a single sapodilla; the Malay sapodilla seems to be a hybrid from Malaysia designed to grow faster and sweeter than other sapodillas. The common sapodilla might be the standard Thai sapodilla? You see it around fairly often, the Malays don’t seem to be quite as common.

When you cut them open, you find a small number of black seeds:

It’s a little like (though smaller than) a Mexican mamey, to which sapodillas are related. The skin is a little thicker than that of a kiwi; you can eat it, though it’s not the most pleasant. The taste on them is like a slightly floral pear; the texture is roughly the same as a soft pear. They’re pretty good; the Malay might be a little sweeter, though it’s hard to tell much of a difference. They can also be juiced; the juice is very similar to pear juice.

Next time: sugar apples.