Thursday, December 8, 2011

Mystery Fruit #1: Ciku

In my last post, I mentioned that I bought a mystery fruit. I'm always telling my kids they need to try new foods, so I'm holding myself to that as well.


At first glance, I thought this was a potato. That's kind of weird to find in a fruit stand. But since Malaysians consider kernel corn to be a topping for both ice cream and waffles, who knows into what category a potato falls? Then, I picked it up and realized it was a fruit. Somewhat soft with a slightly furry skin, it reminded me a lot of a kiwi.

Then, I cut it open.


Nope, not a kiwi. With reddish-orange flesh and a few shiny, black, almond-shaped seeds, this probably isn't even closely related to a kiwi. I grabbed a spoon and scooped out a sample (just like a kiwi). It was good! Sweet and soft, it reminded me of a ripe pear.

A few days later, I found some at the Cold Storage grocery store where, like American stores, they had a big sign with the fruit's name and price. The mystery fruit is called a Ciku (pronounced "CHEEK-oo"). It's also know as a zapota, sapodilla, chico, and chicozapote. It turns out that my mom had been asking me during our Skype calls if I had tried a ciku. Now, I can say, "Yes."

4 comments:

  1. My boys are huge fruit eaters and would probably love that. I'll have to look for it.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Michele,
    Thanks for visiting my blog!

    Do not miss the fruit season in Penang next year. I bet you had tried 'durian' (the spiky & stinky fruit :D), so the next on the mysterious fruits list go to 'cempedak' (Artocarpus integer, pronounced "chem-pe-dak" - good to make them cempedak fritters) and 'rambutan' (red hairy lychee - this is my version of description :D - best to eat fresh).

    Happy feasting in Pearl of The Orient :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Shirley, rambutan is definitely on my list of fruits to try. I'll have to look for cempedak to try. The closest to durian that I've tried is durian chocolates.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I tried ciku today in Langkawi! I had no idea what I was buying, but the gal at the fruit stand was so nice, I couldn't say no. I'm so glad I tried it! I don't think we have those in the States, so that must mean I need to return to Malaysia again soon!

    ReplyDelete

I read each and every comment. Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts. Comment moderation is on, so your comment may not appear immediately.

Web Analytics