Plums and Apricots

Apricot (left) and Plum (right). Table spoon added for size comparison

When we do our groceries, we usually head off to the veggies, meat and packaged products after grabbing fruits that we are familiar with: bananas, apples and oranges mostly.  I have become rather fond of feijoas
because they remind me of our yummy guava so we buy these too whenever in season.
This week I decided to have a look at our other fruit options because I suddenly found myself longing for some of our ours, hoping that these can tide me over until the day we visit the Philippines again.  I guess it cannot be helped that I will compare the taste of the fruits here with those I grew up with, but at the same time it makes it a bit easier to describe what these are like.


Plums and apricots are about as common as they can get so I decided to try these out.

The Plum is best eaten as is.  It is juicy and slightly sweet.  Texture-wise, I was able to easily correlate it with eating sinigwelas, the fruit of many happy childhood summers.  I did a little search on sinigwelas and I learned that it was introduced by the Spaniards and is originally from Mexico.  In English, it is Jocote, and also - surprise - Spanish Plum.

Going back to the plum... it is rich in vitamin C and has antioxidants so it's good for you.  Unfortunately, it is also one of the few kinds of food which contains a measurable amount of oxalate, so people with kidney or gall bladder problems should steer clear of plums.  A complete description can be found in whfoods.com.

The Apricot, on the other hand, is something else.  This golden-orange fruit has a velvety skin, as is the flesh.  I actually could not correlate the texture when I had one in the office.  Later at home, I wondered out loud that I could not compare the apricot with what we have back in the Philippines, then my wife said it was like eating chesa.  To some extent, texture-wise, she is right.  It is such a strange sensation eating the apricot.  But I tell you, nothing beats the chesa.  I cannot get through even a fourth of this before I give up.  It tastes good enough, but it's just so overpowering!

I was able to finish an apricot though, so that's good.  It has loads of Vitamin A (good for the heart and eyes!), and is a great source of fiber.  I should definitely try dried apricots next time (for texture preference).

More on apricots, still at whfoods.org.