Photo Friday: Fruits of the South Pacific

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I was baffled by how many different types of fruit grow in the Cook Islands, and shockingly, that does not include oranges as we came to find, and bananas grow upside down. Who knew?

But everywhere we looked, there was fruit—quite literally—falling from the trees. A couple times, we were almost taken out entirely by an aggressive coconut or two. Let’s play a little guessing game…how many of the below can you properly identify?

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

No cheating either, you red-handed Googlers! First person to guess them all correctly gets…the glory of being right! (Answers will be posted on Sunday night.)

Bonus Photo: On the topic of eating, SVV and I sampled uni at Bar Tartine a couple nights ago—the chef sent it over special for us; we knew not what we were eating—which we later found out translated to SEA URCHIN GONADS. Mmmmm, yum. Surprisingly, though, it was tasty!

**All Cook Islands photos taken with a Canon XTi, 50mm fixed lens; last photo shot with a Canon SD870 point and shoot.

**********

ANSWERS

1. guava
2. inside of a noni
3. outside of a noni
4. papaya
5. baby coconut
6. mature coconut
7. passionfruit (you weren’t supposed to be able to get this one; I just thought it was too funny a picture of Johnny Jet to pass up!)

COMMENTS
  • April 17, 2009

    Did you know more people die of being hit on the head by a coconut than by shark attacks? I wish I wasn’t totally serious by the way but when you’re smitten by a total geek, you begin paying attention during Shark Week.

  • April 17, 2009

    If you ever come to Brisbane, I will take you to Tropical Fruit World.

  • April 17, 2009

    Holy hell, those are fruits? They look like something that came out of a Willy Wonka world. So very cool.

  • April 17, 2009

    Crap. I hate when I don’t know culinary things. I do know a few but I wont google the rest till you tell us so as to not spoil the fun. I do know that 5 is one of my husband’s absolute favorite things in the world and seeing that would make him salivate. I have wanted to try 2 for a while now but we just dont get them here and if we did I am sure they would pale by comparison to finding them like that.

  • April 17, 2009

    Ok, here are my guesses:

    1. Guava
    2. In the Philippines this fruit is called atis. It’s very sweet, right?
    3. No clue
    4. Papaya
    5. Is that a durian?
    6. Coconut
    7. Can’t tell from the pic

  • April 17, 2009

    Those fruits look gorgeous! You’ve made me crave summertime and fruit – off to the grocery store!

    How would you like to be the guy that has to get the gonads from the sea urchin? I’ve had urchin before and liked it, but I didn’t realize they even had such body parts. See – I learned something new today.

  • April 17, 2009

    Jeez, I don’t know my tropical fruits! The only one I can identify is the coconut!

  • April 17, 2009

    1. guava
    2. i’m same with speedy gonzales there. I grew up in the philippines and we called that atis. I think it’s called star apple here?
    3. some kind of prickly pear?
    4. papaya
    5. & 6. coconut – aren’t they the same fruits?
    7. sour apple?
    I’d like to try that uni dish, though!

  • April 17, 2009

    1. Passionfruit / lillikoi
    2. No clue. Maybe Lychee?
    3. Soursop, maybe?
    4. Papaya
    5. Mangosteen?
    6. Coconut
    7. Guava

  • April 17, 2009

    Let me impress you with my culinary knowledge:

    Coconuts.

    Fail.

  • April 17, 2009

    um. yeah, whatever. i know, um, the coconut? maybe? if it even is a cocount?

  • April 17, 2009
    Kavita

    1. Guava
    2. Custard Apple
    3. A nude pineapple! :p
    4. Papaya
    5. Looks like a coconut
    6. A Coconut
    Back to 5 – Still going with coconut
    7. An envious Sapota! 🙂

  • April 17, 2009

    there’s a ton of fruit in costa rica too. i’m scared to touch most it, not daring enough i guess. however, whenever my parents come and we go to the local market, my dad is the exact opposite he tries EVERYTHING. so thanks to him, i’ve expanded my universe of fruit and it’s been very rewarding 😉

    Photo Friday – Behind the Scenes

  • April 17, 2009

    I have NO IDEA.

    I do know, however, that you are making me hungry 🙂

  • April 17, 2009

    1. Guava
    2. Looks like passion fruit…
    3. Noni
    4. Papaya
    5-6. Coconut
    7. can’t tell….

  • April 17, 2009

    Well, I got the coconut, but not even daring to try the rest!
    Those are some lovely looking sea urchin gonads. Really, they’re gorgeous. But I’m surprised you lived through eating them! Cause . . . !!??!???!!?!?!?!?!

  • April 17, 2009

    Hubs said “No” to trying sea urchin gonads… I did get a “maybe” to going to the Cook Islands though!

  • April 18, 2009

    The real question is, “Were they delicious?” Even being a picky eater, I would try all of them except number 2 without any explanation.
    Number 2 is obviously the feared jellyfish plant with tentacles that will sting your tastebuds and uvula. It’s a bit hard to digest unless you chug some calamine lotions with it. The rest I do not know.

  • April 18, 2009

    guava and coconut. Other than those I haven’t a clue.

    And because I’m 12, I laughed like Butthead when I read that you ate sea urchin balls.

  • April 22, 2009

    I just discovered that the Noni is the Indian Mulberry! Aarrghh…
    ~~~The Enlightened One~~~

  • May 2, 2009

    Excellent article, excellent tips. Excellent thanks. I found this article really interesting and helpful, and have passed it on to a lot of people. Why don’t you check my Mangosteen site also and tell me what you think.

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