Feeling fruity in the tropics.

Just as Abby’s face was finally starting to heal from her green mango encounter, I came across a new tropical fruit.  The most beautiful, spherical, purple glossy fruit with a hint of green.  A Caimito.

Caimito

On the outside it looks a little like a fig, but not when you break it open.  The seeds are hard inside, with a slimy casing.

The seeds with their slimy coating.

One of our builders brought us a whole pile for us to try.  He’d found them on a nearby tree.  Along with the pile of fruit he gave me a handful of leaves, explaining that after I’d eaten the fruit I should rub my lips with the leaves.  I was a little nervous but it’s ok, your lips don’t swell up, they just stick together.  When you break it open a white, milky substance flows.  Within seconds your lips are coated and sticky.  I sat and peeled the gluey stuff off my fingers, just like if you’d spilled that white paper and craft glue on your hands.  I see the natural latex has been used as a remedy for abscesses.

It’s hard to describe the taste, more just sweet tasting than a real flavour.  It’s pretty inside as well as out.  When you cut it in half, you can see why it’s often referred to in English as a Star Apple.

A Star Apple - look at the latex effect on my thumb.

Not to be put off, Abby took the green mangoes on again.  This time she washed them, peeled them, cut them into strips, washed the strips, and then ate them with a dab of salt.  No ill effects this time.

Take 2: Proper preparation of a green mango.

One not so sure.

Another loved it.

Green mangoes work like Botox.

Three out of four of our kids, the boys basically, are great eaters.  Abby is not quite as adventurous as they are and has her list of things that she can pretty much live off.  The list has got a little longer over time, but it certainly is not extensive.  That’s not to say her diet is unhealthy, just limited.  Raw fruit and veggies she‘ll go to town on.  She‘ll eat you out of apples and carrots for an afternoon snack.  Plain is probably the best way to describe her favourite foods: pasta, rice, meat etc., but all without sauce.   She does have one exception to her plain food rule though.  Calamari.  Loves them.  She especially likes the little whole squids with all the tentacles still in tact, so she can pull them off one at a time and eat them.  Strange considering cooked broccoli sends her over the edge.

So it was quite a big deal for Abby when she tried a new food at school.  Technically it fit in one of her categories, raw fruit.  Although what happened next may just put her off ever trying anything again.

The  kids’ school has wonderful old mango trees dotted around the property which give great shade.  Right now they’re festooned with little green unripe fruit.  As we haven’t been here a full year yet, we weren’t aware of the delicacy that is ‘green mango’.  Apparently they’re eaten with a little dab of salt.  However,  as Abby found out they come with a health warning if not prepared properly.

She ate one at school the day before yesterday.  By yesterday afternoon and evening her lips had swollen and she said they felt like they were burning.  When she woke up this morning she looked like she’d had a Botox overdose.  It was quite a sultry look she had going on, although that’s not a thing you encourage in a ten year old, and the burning feeling was not making her happy.  Of course it seems like everyone else knows about the dangers, as two people have already reacted somewhere between horror and hilarity when I’ve told them that Abby had a run in with a green mango.

Ice bag for the swelling.

Not the best picture, but you get the idea.

At least the botox spread evenly.

After some Wikipedia research I have found out that mango skin contains urushiol, the same chemical that is in poison ivy and poison sumac.  Great.  She ate it without washing it or peeling it!.  Further research though shows that mangoes in general are great for your health, possessing amongst other things inhibitors in prostate and skin cancer.

I saw her later at school today and she looked a lot better after the antihistamine, the hydrocortisone cream on her neck and chin, and the vaseline on her lips.  “You look much better Abs,” I said when I saw her with her friends.  “You can shut your mouth now!”  That got me a smack.

(This blog entry and pictures were posted with the express permission of Miss Abby L. Millar.)

** (May 31st 2011) After seeing that many Google searches have sent me ‘hits’ looking for ‘foods that work like Botox’ etc., I feel I must point out that the title was meant to be funny.  It is certainly NOT factual.  Your lips may look fuller after an encounter with a green mango, but the oozing pustules are not attractive, comfortable, or good for your health.**